


Driving With Wolves

by siriuslywinchester



Series: Driving With Wolves [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Completed, F1 - Freeform, F1 AU, Gen, Murder, Supernatural AU - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-10 18:39:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3299750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuslywinchester/pseuds/siriuslywinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a certain episode from Season 2 of CW's Supernatural, the Formula 1 world finds itself hit by a monster.  Nico Hulkenberg, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso need to team up to get to the bottom of the situation and put a stop to it before anyone else gets hurt.</p><p>(No prior knowledge of SPN is really required for reading this fic, there are just a few references or phrases that SPN fans will recognise as certain characters)</p><p>disclaimer:  completely fictional, or at least as far as i'm aware it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tooth

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Beta Reader: [girlinthevortex](http://archiveofourown.org/users/girlinthevortex)
> 
> Tags will be added as necessary for future chapters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimi is out running, training for the start of the new season when he comes under attack. Out cold for most of the night, he tries to piece together exactly what happened to him and what this means for the future...

It was early evening and Kimi was running along the edge of the river, his iPod turned up loud playing his favourite running mix. The sky was a fusion of reds, yellows and purples, the sun casting great shadows from the trees that lined the pathway. It was a cold evening despite the clear skies and the fresh air bit at his throat and lungs as he breathed heavily. He was focused on his music, trying to keep his feet driving him forwards in time with the beat but something was niggling at the back of his mind.

He glanced over his shoulder. The pathway behind him was as empty as it was in front but he still felt as though he was being followed. He quickened his pace, heading for the lights of his hometown where people would be busily rushing about on their way home from work. He didn't really like being out in public alone, what with being so famous, but if he was in a crowd he'd feel less threatened - not that he'd admit that to anybody, obviously. He tried to concentrate on his breathing - in for four, out for four - his eyes focused on the kissing gates that separated the riverside pathway from the main road ahead.

Kimi continued running, his breath condensing in the chilly air. The song he was listening to came to an end and for a moment the resulting silence seemed deafening. Through his heavy breathing he heard the crack of a twig snapping and something scratching on the pavement behind him. He turned just in time to see a huge dog with long claws dive towards him, teeth bared and madness in its eyes. It landed heavily on his chest, knocking Kimi to the ground and biting hard onto his left arm. With an almost unnatural show of strength, the dog dragged him under the bushes and into a hidden clearing. Kimi struggled, trying to grab onto branches, grass, rocks, anything to pull himself free but it only caused him more pain, eventually becoming unbearable and causing him to pass out.

The dog stopped in the middle of the clearing, unclenching its jaws from around Kimi's arm. It breathed heavily, tongue hanging from its mouth and dripping with blood. Its wild eyes darted around and it twitched at every unexpected sound. Kimi heaved a breath in but didn't wake. The dog jumped, its eyes locking on the blood that was now soaking into the ground around the body. The dog panicked, seeming to realise what it had done. It paced around the body, plucking rotten leaves from the ground between its teeth and covering the body. It pressed a leaf onto the wound with its nose to stop the flow and with eyes that now looked horrified it scarpered off through the trees as fast as its legs would carry it.

Sometime later Kimi woke up. Dazed and disoriented he found himself half buried beneath moulding leaves. It took him a moment to remember what had happened. A dog attacked him whilst he was running. He remembered being dragged into the clearing but after that he was clueless. He managed to stand and rummaged about in his pocket to find his phone. It was almost midnight - he’d been out cold for over six hours - and the ground was beginning to freeze. There were huge paw prints frozen into the ground around him, too big to be a domestic pet. He placed his hand beside one of them. The print was bigger than his hand. What kind of wild animal was that? 

He peeled a leaf from his arm and discovered deep tooth marks from what must have been massive jaws that had sunk through both his jacket sleeve and his skin. The leaf had stemmed the flow of blood and the wound seemed to be scabbing over already. Shivering in the cold, he picked his way back through the bushes thinking of the nice hot shower and his bed at home. As he reached the path he noticed something glint in the light of the full moon. It was his iPod, cracked from the fall. Beside it he found a large canine tooth that was almost as long as his little finger. He shoved both his iPod and the tooth into the pocket of his jacket and sprinted back to his apartment.

As soon as he got through the door he removed the tooth from his pocket and placed it in a jar on his window sill. He stripped to his underwear and put his clothing in the wash - all but his jacket which he threw in the bin, slightly annoyed as it was his favourite. He headed to the bathroom and twisted the shower on to its hottest setting, stepping into the water and letting the blood wash off his arm and the heat soak right into his bones. He stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out, hoping that he’d feel properly warm once he was in his bed. As he dried off he examined the bite on his arm. Considering how deep it had looked when he came around, it didn't really look all that bad now. In fact given all the blood he’d washed off, the bite mark barely looked like it had broken the skin. Perhaps it was just the limited light in the clearing that had made it look worse? He slid into bed and fell into an exhausted deep and dreamless sleep.

The next day Kimi awoke later than normal. Still feeling groggy from sleep he examined his arms. Neither of them had even the vaguest hint of a bite mark - had he dreamt that he was attacked by a dog? He slipped out of bed, got dressed and headed to the kitchen for some cereal. He grabbed some skimmed milk out of the fridge and, as he was shutting the door, noticed the jar on the window sill. Forgetting his cereal he tipped the tooth out onto his palm and headed into the study to turn on his computer.

He loaded Google and hovered his hand over the keyboard. Unsure what to type, he picked the tooth up and rolled it between his fingers. Eventually he typed 'canine long tooth' and clicked onto the images. He scrolled for what seemed like hours, his cereal abandoned on the kitchen side turning to a soggy pulp. After various different searches and a hundred websites, he concluded that the tooth belonged to a wolf. He was a little uncertain that this was what had attacked him because of the lack of wolves in Switzerland but it was the only thing he could find that seemed to fit his memory of a dog and the fang he had found.

By now the only remaining evidence of an attack was the torn sleeve on his jacket in the bin. He had no real recollection of what happened after being knocked to the ground so he decided to put it out of his mind. He picked up the tooth and headed out into his garage, grabbing an old leather string necklace on the way out. He rummaged about in one of the cupboards searching for his drill kit. Eventually he found it, making a mental note to clear out some of the crap he had hoarded, and drilled a hole through the tooth. He cleaned the drilled tooth with a bit of white spirit and threaded it onto the leather string, tying it round his neck. Looking at his reflection in his car window he thought it looked rather cool.

Kimi spent the rest of the day as he usually would, forgetting about the ordeal of the night before. As evening fell he threw on his running gear and headed out towards the river. It was later than when he was out the day before and so the main street was almost empty. As his iPod was broken he was running without music. He was surprised at how quickly he was running and how he didn't feel out of breath or tired when he reached the bridge he would normally turn round at. He decided to continue on, enjoying the fresh air and the time to think.

After an hour had passed Kimi finally decided that despite feeling like he could run even further he should probably turn back. It was getting late and he had to pack his gear to fly out to Australia tomorrow afternoon. As he turned he was astounded by how full the moon was, perfectly round in the clear black sky. The sight of it made his pulse quicken and he felt his insides clench. He started to run back towards the town when he realised that the hair all over his body was standing on end. He suddenly felt a great force on his back, his muscles contracting and forcing him onto all fours. Through the dizzying pain he could feel his body convulsing and his bones changing shape and cracking into different positions. The agony was so intense it filled his mind and his eyes rolled back in his head. His clothing ripped from his expanding body and his shoes burst from his feet which were now covered in hair and growing claws.

Eventually the pain stopped and, panting for breath, Kimi came back to his senses, freaking out completely as he tried and failed to stand upright. He crawled forward, desperately trying to figure out what was happening to him and caught his reflection in the moonlit river. His face was now covered with brown fur, his eyes huge and black and where his nose and mouth would normally be was a long muzzle with teeth much alike the one still strung around his neck. He tried to speak, to scream out for help, but his voice came out as a whimper which turned to a heart-stopping howl. All of his human senses were telling him he should panic but his wolf-like body was calm and naturally accepting what it had transformed to; his ears pricked listening for sounds in the woodlands, his nose sensing smells he had never known existed before.

He took a few steps with all four of his new legs, surprised at how agile they were. They felt strong and fast, much like he had done when he was running along the riverside just moments before. Kimi had a lot of questions, mostly starting with 'What the actual fuck...', but his wolf senses stopped his thoughts short and told him there was a deer nearby. His mouth began to salivate, drool dripping out and landing on the path. The newfound wolf in him took over and before he could stop himself he was pounding through the woodland in the direction of the scent.

It took mere seconds to find the deer and sink his teeth into its unsuspecting back haunches, breaking its legs before attacking its throat, ripping it free and ending its life. It was a large, fat doe, probably fed by a nearby farm. Its flesh was juicy and, disturbingly, Kimi found the combination of raw meat and warm blood delicious. He gorged on the deer, eating all of its insides, blood running through the fur below his mouth. He ate quickly as though he'd not been fed for days, despite having had dinner just hours before, and soon all that was left of the deer was a bloody carcass.

After his unexpected midnight snack Kimi felt both full and tired. He dug a hollow with his front paws at the foot a tree trunk and curled into it, his long tail wrapping around his body. He closed his eyes and fell into a tense sleep. At first it was a dreamless night, where his ears and nose were still awake ready to alert him of any danger that might find him, but eventually his senses shut off and he dreamt of running through the fields with a pack of wolves behind him.

When he awoke, Kimi found himself back in human form lying naked on the frosty earth. The sky was a deep red as the sun began to rise and the mist of the night began to lift leaving an eerie look about the woodland. His mind was racing, panic gripping him. He had no idea where he was or what was happening. He groped around on the floor trying to find his clothes. He was shivering and shaking both with fear and the cold. He noticed he was covered in blood but couldn’t find any evidence of it being his own. He eventually found the deer carcass and recoiled back, hunching over and vomiting into the pit he had slept in. Clumps of coarse fur came up with the stream of blood red sick, causing him to vomit again.

Eventually the vomiting passed and Kimi's mind cleared, reminding him of the nights events. He was sweating despite the cold and was struggling to control his breathing. He tried to convince himself that it was all a dream, but he was currently sat stark-bollock naked beside the carcass of a freshly eaten deer and struggled to explain how this would have happened without his memories being real. The tooth was still strung around his neck and he gripped it tightly, pulling his knees up against his chest in an attempt to keep himself warm. He decided he needed to do some more research. It seemed stupid, but could werewolves actually be real? He remembered how his teeth in wolf-form matched the tooth that was now clutched in his sweaty palm and how strong he had felt before the transformation. 

He needed to get home to his computer.


	2. The Necklace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian flies out to Australia with Nico and Nico, no sign of his team mate Kimi who Fernando says rearranged his flights.
> 
> The first race of the season goes well for all except Fernando who, in a confused rage, ends up in the Ferrari changing rooms and discovers something strange is up with his ex-colleague, Kimi.

Nico had insisted that the other Nico got the same flight as him to Australia, however Sebastian decided that it wasn't really all that wise to leave them to travel together and so also booked a seat on the flight. Whenever they were left alone Rosberg somehow managed to do something completely unearthly and Hulk would just shrug it off and leave whoever had fallen victim to clean up the mess. It was a tough job but somebody had to keep them in line, keep them focused, actually get them to the race tracks on time.

They'd all met at check-in at the airport and somehow managed to drop their bags without Rosberg ending up following the luggage down the conveyer belt. He'd almost dropped his pants when security asked him if he had anything to hide and Hulk had made some silly comment about 'only what's tucked into his briefs', but luckily Seb had intervened and security had been none the wiser to Nico's weird ways.

They were now sat waiting for boarding to open and Hulk was flicking his way through some Asian Babe's magazine he'd found at one of the duty free shops. Rosberg was chatting animatedly with a stuffed toy - something about how all pets go to heaven, but not sure as whether stuffed toys do. Sebastian was still hopeful that Kimi would turn out to be on the same flight too, but he'd not returned any of his calls that morning so he figured he was probably already flying. He missed Kimi - he’d seen him a couple of times at testing over the winter break but they’d been so busy with their teams they’d not had a chance to hang out with one another.

Eventually the gate opened and the three drivers got onto the plane and into their first class seats. The flight took off with no issues and before long they were high above the clouds on their way to Australia. Rosberg, sat opposite Sebastian and Hulk, leaned his chair back and fell asleep, snoring gently. Sebastian turned to make conversation with Hulk but found him with his eyes closed, headphones over his ears humming Metallica. Sebastian laughed - Nico hated flying. He pulled out his laptop and sat it on the table before him, flicking through his DVD wallet for something to watch. Sliding Van Helsing out of its pocket and inserting it into his laptop’s drive, he propped his feet up on the arm of Rosberg’s chair and settled back to watch.

What seemed like a few moments later, Sebastian was jolted awake by turbulence and found the films credits rolling up his laptop screen. Rosberg was still fast asleep, completely dead to the world. Hulk had his eyes closed, no longer humming songs to relax himself. The colour had drained from his face and his knuckles were white from gripping so tightly to his chair. The turbulence passed and Sebastian turned to look out of the window. The sky was reds and purples, turning to blues and blacks as he scanned the horizon. The moon was already rising - not quite a full circle, but seemingly bigger from their vantage point in the plane.

Sebastian day-dreamed the rest of the flight, coming back to reality as the seat belt sign beeped alight. Hulk visibly relaxed as the plane bumped back onto Earth and Rosberg rubbed his eyes, yawning widely.

“We’re here already?” he queried.

“About damn time,” Hulk replied. “Man, I hate flying.”

The plane had come to a halt at the gate and the passengers were starting to line up at the doorway, eager to stretch their legs. Sebastian and the two Nico’s grabbed their bags and headed out into the terminal building.

The queue at passport control was huge with none of the lines particularly short so the men joined the nearest one, each checking their phones for their schedules. Sebastian was due to meet up with his team at the hotel that evening, Hulk had nothing until the following morning and Rosberg was shaking his phone and turning it upside down, apparently trying to get an image to rotate.

There was movement ahead of them and suddenly the passengers in front split to allow a bearded man with a McLaren t-shirt through.

“Hello boys!” he said, his Spanish accent making the phrase sound somewhat more camp than he intended.

“Fernando! Good to see you,” Hulk replied, grasping the man’s hand and shaking it a little too enthusiastically. Sebastian couldn't help but notice Rosberg's brow furrow as he looked at their hands. “How long have you been queueing?”

“Oh aaages, “ the Spaniard replied. “Here, follow me. We’re near the front so you can join us if you sell me your souls.”

He grinned mischievously as he led the three flight-weary drivers to the front of the queue. Some of the McLaren team nodded respectfully but most of them continued their conversations, paying little attention to the new arrivals. Fernando was chatting animatedly about how excited he was to drive with McLaren again, turning to Sebastian to ask how he was finding his new place at Ferrari.

“It’s good, I suppose,” he replied, scanning the room again. “Listen, have you seen Kimi lately?”

“I heard he swapped his flight. Some of Ferrari were on the same flight as myself and they seemed pretty pissed off about it. Said something about him wanting a flight that would only fly during daylight hours. I don’t know,” he laughed, shrugging and pulling his passport out of his pocket as he stepped up to security. “Anyway, see you on the track. Through my rear view mirrors, of course!”

\---

The next couple of days passed by in a blur of press conferences and interviews, leaving the drivers with little time to interact with anyone besides their teams. Sebastian had seen little of Kimi, except at a Ferrari press conference where there had been no time to chat. He sensed there was something bothering the Finn and wondered if it was something to do with them now driving for the same team. He’d assumed that working with Kimi would only strengthen their relationship but right now he felt more distance between them than ever.

The class photoshoot was the next thing on Sebastian’s schedule and he headed out onto the pitlane to join the other drivers waiting to be led out to the seats. The two Nico’s were already there, Hulk zipping Rosberg’s overalls up properly and tweaking his hat so it sat straight. Sebastian rolled his eyes and looked around at the class of 2015, smiling whenever any of the other drivers caught his eye. Finally his eyes settled on Kimi, sat on the ground with his back leaning against the barrier. He headed towards his teammate but before he reached him the drivers were called through to take their places.

Sebastian found himself sat between his old colleague Daniel Ricciardo and his new partner Kimi. He nodded at Dan who he’d never really been all that pally with and turned to face Kimi. The Finn was looking at his hand, concentrating on his thumb as he tried to remove the dirt from under his fingernail with a cocktail stick. Sebastian knocked his knee into Kimi’s to catch his attention.

“Hey, how have you been? I’ve missed you, you didn’t answer my calls?” he questioned, spilling out all of his feelings at once.

“I was busy. Shut up or you’ll have your mouth open in the photos,” Kimi replied, not even looking up from his thumbs.

“Three, two, one…” the camera man counted. Sebastian tried not to look too upset and noted that Kimi at least glanced up briefly for the shot. As soon as the photographer signaled it was fine, Kimi stood up and strode over to his ride for the drivers parade. Sebastian didn’t chase after him - he knew better than to pester Kimi when he was in a bad mood.

\---

Qualifying came and passed. Sebastian was fairly pleased with his position - he'd managed fifth with Hulk just behind him in sixth. They grabbed hands, pulling each other into a friendly hug.

"Nicely done," Nico said, slapping him on the back, before grabbing a bottle of water and downing half of it in one go.

"Yeah, I don't know how Kimi managed second though? This car shouldn't be that fast, it's too hard to control at the speeds he managed."

Sebastian had been told that his team mate had been almost 2 seconds faster than him in Q2. He had no idea how, he was pushing his car to the limit and knew that if he pushed any more his reflexes wouldn't be fast enough, especially contending with the vibrations he was experiencing. Kimi had somehow managed to be even quicker in Q3 and come into parc ferme in second place; only Rosberg and his baby had been quicker.

Rosberg and Kimi were now at the post qualifying press conference. Sebastian and Hulk were both done for the day and so headed out of the complex to get showered, have some food and hopefully get a good night’s sleep in preparation for the race the following day.

As they were walking down the corridor to the main entrance, they spotted Fernando heading in the opposite direction. He didn't look happy and Sebastian couldn't really blame him. His car had stopped on track in Q1 and McLaren had called him in, saying that he'd just have to start from the pits in the race. Sebastian and Nico nodded politely as he reached them, but he pushed past them intent on wherever it was he was heading. The two Germans watched him enter a room further down the corridor before shrugging at one another and heading out to their cars.

\---

Fernando was raging. Partly because the car had made a laughing stock of him but also partly because Ferrari were doing so well. Kimi had placed second and Fernando had had to walk back to the garage because the piece-of-junk McLaren had stopped and wouldn't start again. He barged into the Ferrari changing rooms and sat himself on the benches beside the neat pile of Kimi's clothing.

He didn't really know why he'd come into the Ferrari side of the complex, but he'd been too angry with McLaren to sit and take their nonsense excuses. He guessed he felt more at home in the red walls of his old team’s changing rooms. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and letting the cool surface calm his rage. He decided that since he was here, he might as well wait and congratulate Kimi on his performance - they were old teammates after all.

He sat on the bench, listening to the sounds of the Ferrari team practicing pit stops outside. His time at Ferrari hadn't been fruitful but he had many memories of the team, and he began idly fiddling with some string he had found whilst he thought about some of his fondest moments.

He waited some time for Kimi to appear, finally coming back from his memories when he heard voices down the corridor. He let the piece of string slip through his fingers and jumped slightly when it made a loud clattering noise as it hit the floor. Glancing between his legs, he discovered it was actually a necklace. He picked it up, examining the item with a furrowed brow - it seemed to be a large tooth. He held the tooth closer to his eyes, measuring it against his hand. It was at least the length of his little finger and he was fairly certain it was of canine origin, but there was only one type of canine that had teeth this long.

"What are you doing?" The voice broke Fernando's internal thoughts and he looked up to see Kimi stood in the doorway.

"Hey, errr," Fernando stumbled with his words, the tooth clutched in his fist. He scratched his head with his other hand. "Yeah... I came to congratulate you. Maybe I shouldn't have switched to McLaren, eh?"

Kimi scoffed, unzipping his race suit.

"You still wouldn't have beaten me. Why are you holding my necklace?" he asked, reaching down and plucking it from Fernando's grip.

"It's an interesting necklace," Fernando replied. "Large tooth, bit weird isn't it? What's it from?"

"It's a wol... I was atta..." Kimi stumbled on his words, not wanting to admit the truth and seem like an idiot. He climbed out of his overalls, making sure he didn't catch Fernando's eyes. If anyone would mock him about his story, it would be Fernando. "I found it while running. I thought it was cool so I turned it into a necklace."

Kimi tied the string around his neck and pulled his Ferrari t-shirt over his head to hide it from view. He glanced at Fernando to check that he was satisfied with his answer. The Spaniard looked like he was thinking deeply.

"You found it in Finland?" he eventually asked.

Kimi nodded, pulling his jeans up and fastening his belt.

"I didn't know they had wolves in Finland..." Fernando said, looking over at Kimi who noticeably stiffened whilst tying his shoelace.

Kimi, still not making eye contact with Fernando, grabbed his rucksack and threw it over his shoulders.

"I don't know, there are reports of some sightings. I just found it on the path, it could be from anywhere," he lied, rushing toward the door, afraid that Fernando would ask more questions. "Look, I have to go now. Good luck tomorrow."

Fernando was left alone in the changing rooms, his thoughts flitting back to an earlier conversation: '...Said something about him wanting a flight that would only fly during daylight hours.' Given what happened last year with the revenge demons of Aryton and Roland, maybe there was even more truths to myths than he thought.

He stood up quickly, heading for the McLaren garage. Where would he be able to find out the lunar cycle?


	3. The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimi heads out to the Chinese Grand Prix not entirely sure what to expect. The event falls across a full moon, and much as he tries to keep out of trouble, he really can't remember what he did each evening...

Kimi flew out to the Chinese Grand Prix a few days earlier than he normally would have. The race weekend fell on a full moon - the second since he was bitten - and he didn't want to raise suspicion by requesting awkward flights again. He'd noticed himself feeling stronger. He was able to run much longer distances and lift heavier weights whilst he was training. He'd even noticed that his reactions were quicker - that was the only reason he could think of for his performance in the first race of the season.

Kimi finished the Australian race behind Nico Rosberg. He'd attempted to overtake the German a couple of times, feeling comfortable with his reactions despite the vibrations that Sebastian had complained about, but he could feel the car complaining against the speed. He'd rather finish the race in second than file a DNF. His team had seemed impressed and nobody had asked questions, so he'd spent the time between races testing his strength and researching werewolf lore.

After performing so well in the opening Grand Prix, Kimi had been called up for the Thursday press conference in China, joined by Nico Rosberg, Felipe Nasr and a few others. He hadn't bothered reading the names, spotting that Felipe was on the list and immediately sensing a new chance to make friends. He didn’t know why that thought occurred to him - he didn’t really do ‘friendship’, but his gut instinct was telling him he needed to surround himself with more people - more people that were weaker than him, that he could take care of and lead. Felipe was fairly new to Formula 1 and would probably appreciate the friendship of someone older and wiser.

The press conference went smoothly, Kimi avoiding eye contact and hoping to be asked as few questions as possible. Those he did have to answer, he gave the brief, to the point replies that the press had grown to love him for. He had, however, felt an overwhelming urge to protect and defend, his muscles tensing when Felipe had been asked whether he really thought he was cut out for Formula 1 after his terrible performance in Australia.

On the way out of the conference, Kimi jogged to catch up with Felipe.

"Hey, Felipe. Well handled in there," he said to the Brazilian, keeping his head down and speaking quietly so none of the press saw the conversation.

Felipe looked shocked. He hadn't really expected Kimi to be chatty, let alone that he would single him out to speak to. He flushed slightly at being acknowledged by someone he considered a hero.

"Thanks, I tried my best. Congrats on your performance in Australia," he replied, trying to come across confidently, despite the nerves he was feeling.

The pair walked down the corridor in silence, neither really knowing what to say to the other. As they reached the doorway which led to the car park, Felipe panicked and asked Kimi if he'd like to grab some dinner before heading back to the hotel. Kimi looked outside and saw that darkness hadn't fallen yet, it was a couple of hours before the moon was due to rise, and something was stirring inside of him, telling him he should go with the young driver. He nodded, signalling to his car and they drove into the city to a quiet restaurant that was hidden down an alleyway.

Kimi surprised himself over dinner. He was never one to talk much, especially to people he barely knew, but his mouth would not close, giving Felipe advice about his career and his driving. Felipe was taking in every word and even agreed to pay for the food when the bill arrived and Kimi pointed out that dinner had been his idea. Kimi could sense that Felipe was very trusting. Part of him was feeling quite bothered by this, but another part was happy that such a younger, weaker driver would be so easy to please.

Several hours had passed by the time they left the restaurant, Felipe explaining to Kimi about his dreams for the future as they walked out the doors. Neither of them had noticed how dark it had become, moonlight bathing the pavement as they stepped out of the alleyway. Kimi fell to his knees, his human instinct quickly draining as the wolf began to take over. He tried to scream for Felipe to run, but he had no idea whether it came out as words or a bark as he watched the skin of his arms begin to cover with fur.

\----

The following morning Kimi awoke naked in his hotel bed. His clothing lay ripped and torn in a pile on the floor by the open window. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair trying to remember how he got back to the hotel the night before. The open window and pile of clothing troubled him because he knew it had been getting closer to the full moon. He looked at his hands, climbing out of bed to look in the mirror. He wasn't covered in blood - that was a good sign, surely? His clothing wasn't bloodied either, perhaps he’d just had too many drinks over dinner and blacked out.

He climbed into the shower, letting the cold water wake him up properly, before turning the water warmer to get washed with. He pushed the problem of the night before to the back of his mind, telling himself over and over that there was no blood, everything was fine, maybe he really had just had a little too much to drink. He tried to concentrate on the free practice day ahead - he wanted to see how far he could push the car.

Free practice went quickly and Kimi stayed behind late with his team to iron out some creases he had found with the car’s performance, eating sandwiches with his team instead of heading out for dinner. He left the compound just before nightfall, deciding to walk back to the hotel, thinking that the fresh air might do him some good. He planned to spend the evening locked in his room, sober, alone and hopefully able to remember his moves.

As he neared the hotel he noticed a lone figure sat on the wall opposite the building. The man was wearing a Sauber shirt and Kimi recognised him as Marcus Ericsson. Marcus had a tough time in free practice, his car stopping after a couple of laps in both sessions. Kimi had driven past him both times, seeing the frustration in his eyes at the car that sat there motionless. Kimi headed over the road and towards Marcus. It wasn’t something he’d normally do, but a feeling inside him told him that helping Marcus was the right thing to do.

“Hey, Marcus,” he said as he approached the younger man, who glanced up from his hands. “How’s it going?”

Kimi placed his hand on the Swede’s shoulder as he straddled the wall and sat down. Marcus stared back at him, his mouth half open ready to reply, his eyes showing the disbelief that Kimi was talking to him. It was true that in the couple of years Marcus had been part of Formula 1, Kimi had never approached him before. He had every right to be surprised. 

Eventually Marcus found his voice and glumly replied, “Not really, but I guess it is to be expected.”

Kimi nodded, rubbing his palm through his hair while he thought of something appropriate to say. He’d never really comforted anybody before, and he was afraid he’d stick his foot in it and cause Marcus more hurt.

“At least it was only free practice,” he said. “Your engineers will be in the shit now. They will sort the car. Tomorrow you will run like Jerez.”

Kimi added what he hoped was a kind smile to the end of his words. The C34 had flown around the tracks at Jerez testing, surprising everybody including the Sauber team. Marcus seemed to perk up at Kimi’s words, obviously happy with the kindness from the man he’d watched driving for so many years.

“Thanks Kimi,” Marcus said quietly, slowly getting to his feet. “You’re right, I guess I’m just being stupid. I shouldn’t dwell on the past, I should focus on tomorrow. Thank you!”

He smiled and turned away to head into the hotel. Kimi glanced after him but the moon, which was peeping just over the roof of the building, caught his eye and he buckled over the wall, screaming in agony. He saw Marcus turn to look at him, horror written across his face. He tried to motion for Marcus to run, but his hands turned into paws before his eyes and as he watched Marcus walking backwards in disbelief, his self-awareness cut out.

\----

When Kimi arrived at the track on Saturday morning in preparation for FP3, he found Marcus and Felipe chatting to one another in the corridors behind the pit lane. The stopped talking as Kimi walked by, giving him weak smiles and nodding their heads at him before parting ways and heading to their garages. Felipe all but ran ahead of Kimi while he watched Marcus walk in the opposite direction. If he hadn’t known better, he would have said they were both running with their tails between their legs. 

Kimi's stomach was churning by the time he entered the Ferrari compound. He felt as though his brain was trying to remind him of something but whatever it was was just out of reach. He'd woken up with the feeling that morning, though he'd found himself in his bed, seemingly fine despite not remember any of the night before. He'd probably just forgotten to bring something with him, that was normally the case with these feelings.

He spent the day driving well and chatting with his team about how the car could go faster. Most of the team were worried about trying to push too hard, but Kimi was certain he could control it. He was feeling really good in the car and he was almost as fast as the Mercedes drivers.

Qualifying came and went without any problems for Kimi. He secured P2 on the grid, despite the red flag from Pastor Maldonado crashing just ahead of him in Q2 and after the press conference he headed back to the hotel to have an early night.

He was just about to enter his hotel room when he heard shouting from the room across the hall. Whoever it was that was shouting was clearly drunk and very angry at the person on the receiving end of the words. Kimi shrugged and turned to put his key card in the door as he heard the shattering of glass, followed by a cry and loud footsteps. Kimi rushed over to the door on the opposite side of the corridor and was about to knock when an angry looking man in a Lotus team t-shirt barged out.

Kimi entered the room and found Pastor on the floor, his face in his hands. There was some form of drink splattered up the wall opposite the bed, and shattered glass scattered the top of the dressing table having clearly been thrown in anger.

"What the hell?" Kimi asked, surveying the room and rushing over to Pastor to check that he was ok.

"Bad day," Pastor mumbled in reply. "I can't do anything fucking right for this team. They're always angry at me, making me push harder. Then I make an erorr and there is more anger. I cannot push more."

Pastor burst into tears. Kimi wasn't really sure what to do, he wasn't good with people who were crying. He walked over to the table top and started to clean up the smashed glass.

"There is not a lot you can do now. The day is done. You can only do your best. The team need you as much as you need them. Their anger is just frustration," Kimi even surprised himself with his words.

Pastor nodded, lifting his head to look at the Finn.

"You are right, of course. Where would they be without my sponsors’ money?" he smiled weakly at his attempted joke, pushing himself to his feet before shuffling off into the bathroom to clean himself up, sniffling as he went. 

It was some time before Pastor reappeared and he seemed tired. He dragged his feet and looked as though he was about to collapse at any moment.

"I think you should try to sleep," Kimi told him, motioning to the bed. "Things will feel better in the morning."

Pastor nodded and silently slid onto the bed and under the duvet, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. Kimi walked over to the window and reached for the curtain. As he peered out into the darkness outside the window, the moon glared back at him, full and round. 

"Not again..." he murmured.

He flung the curtain closed and started to run towards the door, but he tripped on Pastor's shoes which were neatly placed by the side of his bed. He scrambled back to his feet, his limbs already covering with thick brown fur. His reflection in the mirror on the door showed his features already turning into the wolf. He tried to reach for the handle but his back cracked and he was on all fours. He turned to shout for Pastor to get out, to leave and get safe, but his mind went blank.

\---

The next morning Kimi awoke early, the sunlight glaring through the curtains of a hotel room that wasn't his. He was naked - again - and there was no sign of anybody else in the room. He wrapped the sheets around him and stuck his head out of the door, looking up and down the empty corridor. The number on the door opposite was the room he should have been in. His first reaction was to laugh at how drunk he must have been last night, but then he remembered that he left the track and headed straight back to the hotel with the intention of no alcohol.

Slightly confused, he crept over to his room, only to discover he had no key card.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself.

Luckily, he supposed, one of his team was in a room just down the corridor. Slightly embarrassed at his predicament, he knocked on their door and asked if he could borrow some clothing. While he got dressed, he feigned some story about some girl he'd found that had kicked him out when she sobered up and then quickly hurried off to the lobby to get a replacement key card and head out to the track.

 

When he got there he bumped into Sebastian.

"Where have you been hiding lately?" the German asked him, looking slightly miffed as Kimi walked by to his side of the garage.

"Ah don't you worry about that Sebby," Kimi replied, winking at his teammate. "I've been having fun!"

Kimi's stomach began churning again, but he told himself it was just the fact he was lying to his friend. How could he explain to Sebastian that he was losing his mind? That he couldn’t remember what he had done during the past few evenings?

"How about dinner at the hotel tonight, when I have finished kicking your ass?" Kimi suggested, waving as he walked through the partition into his changing room.

\---

Kimi came second in the race, two hundredths of a second behind Lewis. He'd have been pissed off if it hadn't been for the fact his car shouldn't possibly have been drivable at those speeds. After the obligatory press conference he headed back to his hotel room and had a quick shower before changing into some jeans and a shirt and heading out of his room to meet Sebastian for dinner.

He stopped at the end of the corridor to wait for the lift and happened to glance out of the huge windows that filled the side of the building. He noticed how dark it was. The moon was rising, clouds skittering across it in the evening breeze.

He turned from the window as the lift 'pinged' to announce its arrival and then the pain hit him. He was slammed to the ground again. His eyes were closed tight but he could feel the fur growing on his body. His heartbeat was quickening and even though he willed himself to stay human he couldn't stop the change. 

As quickly as the pain had come, it stopped and Kimi looked up. The lift doors had opened, and inside he saw Romain. The Frenchman looked like he was trying to climb through the walls to get further away from Kimi.

"Get away! Run!" he tried to shout, to scream for Romain to escape to safety.

Romain's face drained of blood. He frantically pressed his finger on the lift’s close door button. Kimi took a few steps towards the lift, the door still open. Romain was whimpering, terror plastered across his face. Kimi tried to stop himself moving, tried to turn and walk away from the man trapped in the lift by his massive wolf form. His lifted a paw, his head turning to the side, he was winning! And then his mind blanked.

\---

Kimi woke the next morning by the pool in the hotel. He had a towel covering his modesty but he was fairly certain he hadn't done that himself. He didn't remember drinking anything, but _wow_ it must have been a good party...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please, please let me know what you think. even if you don't like it, i just want to know what people are thinking about this :)


	4. The Pack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The championship moves on to Bahrain and so do the drivers. Sebastian is annoyed with Kimi for standing him up after the race in China and becomes more enraged when he spots him in the hotel bar with some new friends. But are the friends there by their own choice?

Most of the drivers headed over to Bahrain the morning following the race in China and Sebastian had been hoping to catch up with Kimi on the flight to ask why he'd missed the dinner they'd arranged. He'd waited in the hotel restaurant for almost an hour, assuming that Kimi had been held up with press after his race. He'd sent the Finn several texts, none of which were replied to, before he decided to give up and headed out to Amber Lounge with the two Nico's. He thought that perhaps he'd see Kimi there, but if he was there he was well hidden.

The three Germans had headed back to the hotel at about 4am with plans to get a couple of hours sleep before their flights to Bahrain. Rosberg was clinging on to Hulk having drunk so much he could barely stand but Sebastian had been unable to drink due to worrying about where Kimi was, leaving bottle after bottle untouched on the table. He had found a few of Kimi's engineers at the club but they'd insisted that Kimi had headed to the hotel in plenty of time to prepare for the meal with Sebastian. They had no idea where he was now and were seemingly too drunk to care.

When Sebastian, Rosberg and Hulk had eventually arrived - in the Nico's cases giggling and staggering - back at the hotel, the hotel manager had spotted them and told Sebastian that his assistance was required by the pool. Half asleep, he'd followed the manager outside and discovered Kimi, naked as a babe, sprawled out on the floor snoring obnoxiously. Sebastian rolled his eyes, grabbed a towel from one of the deck chairs surrounding the pool and placed it over Kimi before telling the hotel manager to leave him there for the night. As far as Sebastian was concerned, if Kimi would rather go out and get bladdered than have dinner as they'd planned, Kimi could face the consequences in the morning.

\---

After landing in Bahrain, Sebastian and the Nico's headed straight to the hotel with plans to get another couple of hours kip before meeting with their teams. As they arrived at the hotel, Rosberg pointed out that Kimi was already in the bar with a rather nervous looking Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean. 

"Since when have they been friends?" Hulk asked, looking to Sebastian for an answer.

"Not a clue," Sebastian replied, giving Kimi a glare before marching to the check-in desk.

Once they had checked in they headed towards the hotel lift, passing Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr who were hurrying across the lobby together. The Sauber drivers headed straight into the bar and joined Pastor, Romain and Kimi. Sebastian caught Rosberg's confused look towards Hulk, who just shrugged in reply, but decided not to comment.

In the lift up to their rooms, Sebastian finally burst with anger.

"Why is Kimi hanging out with those guys?" he asked, frustration in his voice. "Do you think he was with them when he was supposed to be with me at dinner last night?"

He knew he sounded petty but it wasn't like Kimi to ditch him without notice. He'd hoped that being team mates with Kimi would mean they'd spend nearly all of their time together, but instead he'd hardly seen anything of the Finn. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

"He's so frustrating. I mean he clearly went out somewhere last night, probably with those four," Sebastian spat. "Just forgetting about me. Expecting that I'd clean up the mess he got himself into. Well enough. He can fucking have his new friends."

The lift stopped at Sebastian's floor and he stormed out, his case weaving violently behind him. Rosberg looked at Hulk, confusion written across his face. 

"Come on man, you can't say it's not obvious now?" Hulk grinned, knowing exactly what Rosberg was thinking.

"Love is strange," Rosberg replied, as the lift door closed again.

\---

Romain had woken early the morning after the Chinese Grand Prix. He rubbed his head, confused and disorientated, finding himself in his bed at the hotel. He'd had the weirdest dream...

He climbed out of bed and jumped into the shower, allowing the cold water to wake him up before it turned warmer. While he washed, he chuckled to himself about how scary the dream had seemed. He was still amazed at how real it had felt when he dried off and got dressed. 

By the time he was dressed and fully alert his mind had moved onto more important business, like how late he was running for his flight. He quickly threw everything into his case and ran down the corridor to the elevator. It was already on his floor so he stepped inside and pressed the ground floor button, not noticing the scratch marks on the opposite wall.

Thankfully Romain made his flight on time, meeting up with Pastor at the gate. Pastor had seemed a little on edge since his crash on Saturday and so Romain had sat with him on the flight, sharing a bottle of wine in a hope it would calm the Venezuelan's nerves a little. 

Seemingly though the Venezuelan was more of a lightweight than Romain had expected and before long he was giggling about waking up on Sunday morning to find Kimi Raikkonen ('of all people!') naked in his bed. He laughed for what seemed like an age to Romain, who had flinched at Kimi's name, the dream flooding back into his mind. Pastor was still laughing when Romain snapped out of his daydream.

"Can you imagine though? I don't know what happened. I was so out of it after I got back from the track and Mark was so pissed off. He'd been shouting so much I blanked out. I don't even remember going to bed and then I wake up next to Kimi?" Pastor was crying with laughter now, not even aware of Romain's indifference to his supposedly hilarious tale. "So, anyway. I panicked. I just got out of bed, packed, got dressed and left. I don't know what he must have thought when he finally woke up!"

Pastor poured himself another glass of wine and Romain sank back into his seat, reliving the nightmare over and over. He never normally remembered much of his dreams, but this one was so vivid. He could still sense the fear he had felt, trapped in the lift with a huge wolf staring down at him, teeth bared and growling. He closed his eyes, happy that Pastor had seemingly cheered up a bit, and tried to sleep for the rest of the flight, hopeful that he'd forget about his dream when he woke next.

\---

When Pastor and Romain arrived at the hotel, Kimi had been standing in the lobby. Pastor, still slightly drunk, flushed bright red much to Romain's amusement. After the pair had checked in Kimi went over to them.

"Fancy a drink?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.

Romain grinned at Pastor who had turned even redder, and nodded following Kimi into the lounge bar and finding a table. Pastor was oddly quiet, opting for a coke when Kimi asked what he'd like to drink.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the passers-by around the hotel before Kimi asked a question neither of the Lotus drivers were expecting.

"So... Fancy hanging out a bit this week? We could go do some sightseeing together or something?" Kimi was half looking at Sebastian who had just walked through the hotel entrance as he asked the question. He turned back to his companions. "I heard there's a cool water park around here somewhere."

The drivers sat discussing the local attractions, trying to narrow down a couple of activities that Romain said they could maybe meet up for. Kimi was half watching Sebastian check in. He noticed his team mate kept glancing over whilst Nico Rosberg and Nico Hulkenberg checked in, but Kimi's eyes became distracted by Marcus and Felipe who were hurrying across the lobby and into the bar. When he looked back, the three Germans were gone.

"Here they are," Kimi said, as the Sauber drivers rushed up to their table. "Sit down. I'll go grab you some drinks."

Kimi headed off to the bar, leaving the four drivers sat at the table, all looking slightly bewildered. Marcus started talking first.

"Ok, so I've been talking to Felipe and he had the same experience as me and this is really freaking me out now," he said, his voice low. His eyes were filled with fear and they were flicking between Kimi at the bar and the men at the table. "Did you... Did he... Well, I guess if he did you'll know what I'm talking about..."

Marcus stopped and sat back in his chair, glancing at Pastor and Romain as if expecting them to talk. Both of them stared back at him, mouth agape.

"Erm. Do you mean... I mean... Does it involve nudity?" Pastor asked, flushing again.

Marcus and Felipe both nodded. The blood had drained from Romain's face and he leaned forward.

"Hang on. What? Can you... Can you just... Explain from the start?" he asked, his mind tearing back to the dream and Kimi's clothing tearing off as he turned into a wolf. "I mean... When you say nudity?"

Marcus began by explaining how he was fairly certain he'd seen Kimi turn into some rabid animal before his eyes. He told the Lotus drivers that he'd seen Felipe in the hotel lift a few hours later and, after a few shots of whiskey, it had turned out that Felipe had had the same thing happen to him the night before. 

"I jumped through the nearest door I could find when it happened," Felipe said, remembering the night he'd be out for dinner with Kimi. "Some poor old woman's house. She let me stay awhile. I think she thought I was being chased by some gang or other. Anyway, it was about 1am when I finally stopped shaking enough to leave her house and I found Kimi naked on the floor outside, completely passed out. I grabbed his clothes that were ripped up, lying on the floor, and bundled him into a taxi. Took him back to his hotel room and left him there. Opened his window to let some fresh air in, to wake him up. I thought I'd imagined it until I found Marcus in the lift the next night and he said he'd just seen Kimi turn into a monster!"

Romain's face, if possible, had gotten even paler. He felt like he was about to be violently sick. The dream was racing through his mind, fitting perfectly with everything that had happened to Marcus and Felipe. Maybe it wasn't a dream. Maybe he'd just convinced himself it was because really it was madness. He glanced at Pastor, who was looking completely baffled. He clearly hadn't had the same experience as he hadn’t mentioned a wolf during their earlier conversation on the plane.

"And... and you're sure you didn't dream this?" Romain asked, when he finally found his voice.

"Dream what?" Kimi barked loudly as he sat back down, placing a tray of drinks heavily in the middle of the table, oblivious to the looks of terror on his colleagues faces.


	5. The Crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimi gets a little to cocky with his new found strength and skill, putting in more than his car can handle in qualifying. Sebastian and Fernando fear the worst when the see whats left of the car, but is it really as fatal as it first seems?

When Sebastian arrived at the Ferrari garage early on Saturday morning, he was surprised to find Kimi and his team already hard at work. He'd been hoping to get there before the Finn and confront him about where he had been when he'd skipped their dinner plans the week before. He sat on a counter at the back of Kimi's side of the garage, listening to his team explain that they didn’t think it was safe for him to be pushing harder, that the car wasn’t able to cope with it.

Eventually the Finn became too frustrated to argue his case and he punched the side of the car as he stormed out of the garage. Sebastian slid from the counter, landing quietly on the balls of his feet and ran after him, catching his arm and pulling him around to face him.

“Are you just going to ignore me for the rest of time, Kimi?” he asked, ducking to try and catch Kimi’s eye as he looked at the floor.

The other man shrugged, pulling his arm out of Sebastian’s grip and walking on. Sebastian grabbed it again, catching his other arm in his other hand when they were facing one another.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why won’t you talk to me?” Sebastian asked, sliding his hands down Kimi’s arms until they were holding the Finn’s wrists. “You didn’t turn up last weekend for dinner and you’ve been avoiding me all week, hanging out with your new friends. What have I done?”

Kimi shrugged again, trying to pull his hands away from Sebastian.

“Look Seb, now isn’t a good time. We’ll meet after qualifying, yeah?” he said, rubbing his fingers up and down the back of Sebastian’s wrists. “I promise.”

Kimi wriggled his wrists, loosening Sebastian’s grip, smiling at the German, despite his annoyance. Sebastian dropped Kimi’s hand, not completely satisfied but it was something, he supposed.

“Tonight then,” he said. “Last chance.”

Kimi headed back into his garage, apparently forgetting that he was supposed to be storming off, and Sebastian followed him, walking past Kimi’s team to his own. Sebastian was convinced he’d done something wrong, he just couldn’t work out what it was. He knew that Kimi was quiet but he had never pushed Sebastian away before. They were best friends - they’d had moments in the past when it had felt to Sebastian that they were _more_ than just best friends. He just didn’t understand why Kimi was picking the Lotus and Sauber drivers that he barely knew over him - it didn’t make sense. 

\--

First practice passed with no problems for either of the Ferrari drivers, with Kimi managing to set a faster time than the Mercedes drivers. Sebastian still had no idea how he managed it, being unable to race faster himself due to vibrations blurring his vision. The whole team was in strong spirits at their car performing better than they could have expected at the beginning of the season.

As Qualifying approached, Sebastian slid over to Kimi’s side of the garage to shake his hand.

“Good luck, K,” he said, noticing that Kimi still couldn’t look him in the eye. “Are we still on for tonight?”

“Yea, yea. Whatever,” Kimi replied, letting go of Sebastian’s hand and turning to his car. “See you then.”

Sebastian shrugged to himself, turning back to his own car as he collected his helmet and slipping it down over his head. He tied it beneath his chin and tested it to make sure it was secure. Once he was satisfied he climbed into his car and let his team strap him in.

As the green light shone out to signal the beginning of qualifying, Sebastian watched Kimi head out onto the track, following just behind him. The German followed behind Kimi for his out lap, leaving a distance far enough behind for him to be able to speed up for his flying lap.

Kimi crossed the start line just ahead of him, speeding off, hitting the first corner before Sebastian had crossed the start line. Sebastian flew behind him, knowing there was no chance he’d catch Kimi up but trying as hard as possible to place a decent time.

Sebastian saw Kimi ahead of him on the straight leading to turn four. Even from behind, Sebastian could tell he was driving insanely fast. He saw the Finn brake into the corner, watching the car wobble as it tried to turn. He watched as the front wing of the car snapped. It was quickly followed by the front left wheel which flew free of the car, hit the barrier and rolled back across the track. Kimi’s car spun into a sideways slide before flipping into the air, landing upside down and hitting the barrier at considerable speed.

Sebastian slowed his car, carefully avoiding the tyre that rolled down the track, his eyes stuck on the upside-down and smoking car ahead of him. Red flags were already waving on the edges of the track, marshals running in from all sides.

“Shit, Sebastian, you alright mate?” the voice in his ear made him jump. “Just get back here, mate.”

Sebastian made no reply, driving the rest of the track part dazed. His memory replayed the car in front of him flipping slowly, Kimi in the cockpit. His heart was in his mouth as he pulled into the pit lane, his team rushing to drag the car back into the garage. He was pulled out of the car, hands gripping him under the armpits as he was moved to a chair. Someone pulled his helmet off, but he had no idea who or when. He dropped to the garage floor, vomiting violently as he hit the surface.

\---

Fernando was just heading around the first corner of his flying lap when the red flags began waving ahead of him. 

“Ok Fernando, head back in. Careful on turn four, there’s a lot of bits on the road,” his engineer said, his voice sounding panicked.

He slowed right down, avoiding debris that scattered the track in the lead up to turn four. At the corner ahead of him he saw Kimi’s car completely wrecked. The three wheels that were still attached were buckled at odd angles and the chassis was smashed inwards. Fernando lifted his visor and took a breath of fresh air to calm him - there was no chance Kimi could have survived that.

He drove slowly around the corner, carefully avoiding marshals and fire men that were rushing around the area. He headed down the next straight, looking back in his rear-view mirrors for one last horrible look at the crash. As he turned the next bend he caught a glimpse of Kimi’s body hanging under the wreckage.

\---

Kimi was dazed. He opened his eyes, finding himself upside down, the side of the car trapping him in place. There was blood everywhere - his own blood. It dripped onto the visor of his helmet from his legs and torso which were angled oddly above him. He couldn’t feel any pain. He unbuckled the belts which strapped him into the car and wiggled free of the wreckage, dropping onto the gravel below, his head spinning as he tried to look up.

It took him a few moments to adjust, before he managed to crawl out from underneath the car to shocked shouts from marshals and firemen that were surrounding him. He got to his feet slowly, so that he didn’t go dizzy again and turned to examine the car. It was a horrifying sight. He pinched himself to check that he was really alive as medics ran towards him, pushing him back to the ground.

He wasn’t sure what they were saying, his mind was rushing, wondering how he had managed to survive the crash. He didn’t take in a word the medics were saying as they lifted him onto a stretcher and into a medical vehicle. He lifted his head for one last look at the car, confusion fogging his mind. 

Someone removed his helmet when he arrived in the medical suite at the circuit. They also cut off his race suit and the layers he had on underneath. He watched the medic throw the garments into a waste bin, all of them soaked with blood. A cold cloth slowly ran across his torso and his upper legs, being wrung out, dripping red, into the bowl beside his bed. The ice cold cloth brought him back to his senses.

“I don’t understand,” a medic was saying. “There was so much blood…”

The voice had a worried and questioning tone to it. 

“There’s not a scratch on him, though. He’s perfectly fine.”

Kimi pushed himself up on his elbows, looking down at his body. It _was_ perfectly fine, just as he’d seen it in the mirror this morning as he got dressed. His mind flicked back to the night he had been bitten - the bite mark that had healed in less than 12 hours. The tooth necklace still hung accusingly around his neck, stained red with blood. He wiped it clean with his fingers, licking the blood off, letting it fill his mouth with a metallic taste.

He swung his legs to the side of the bed, sitting up fully, running his hands through his sweat soaked hair.

“Can somebody bring me some clothes?” he asked the medics, who both jumped at the voice, looking up from the notes they were examining.

The youngest medic rushed out of the bay. The elder walked over to Kimi.

“Mr Raikkonen, I suggest that you lay back down. Your body withheld quite an impact this afternoon…”

“I know. And I’m fine,” Kimi cut him short, standing and gesturing at his own body. “I’m perfectly fine, as you were just saying.”

He sat back on the bed again, spinning the tooth between his thumb and index finger. He was thankful that he’d only been brought to the medical bay - he could leave and go back to the hotel as soon as he had clothes. His mind was still racing, reliving the night he was bitten, reliving the crash. Flashing back to the sight of his car as he’d been carried away. _How_ had he survived? _How_ had he healed so quickly? He needed to get out of the medical bay. He wanted to shower and to leave the track. He wanted to get back to the hotel and find someone who could tell him what the _fuck_ was going on with his body. 

The medic clicked his fingers in front of Kimi’s eyes, snapping him back to reality.

“Just to be certain, Mr Raikkonen, we’d like you to go to hospital. For a full check up. Just to make sure you’re _fully_ ok,” the medic continued with a patronising smile. “Although you may feel okay now, some injuries may take time to develop. And we’d like to full make sure that your brain and your skull are ok. There is an ambulance on the way as we speak.”

Before Kimi could reiterate that there was _no_ way he’d be going to hospital, the young medic returned, followed by a couple of members of Kimi’s race team. One of them dropped some clothing on the end of his bed, gaping at the driver who sat seemingly fine before him. He turned to the other members of the team. They all stared back at him in shock.

“What?” he said to them, numbly, wishing they’d stop staring. “Were you expecting a corpse?”

“How the…” his race engineer, David started. “How are…”

He opened and closed his mouth, gesturing at Kimi, no words forming between his lips. He turned to the medic.

“What the hell?” he finally gasped.

Kimi started pulling on his jeans while the confused medic explained to the Ferrari team what he knew.

“Kimi was covered in blood when he arrived in the bay. We stripped him and washed him and we found his flesh completely healed. There is no explanation, we are not sure where the blood has come from. It is simply not possible to heal this quickly,” the medic said as Kimi slid his head through the hole in his t-shirt. “And yet as you see he is perfectly unharmed. I believe the hospital will be able to run tests to establish what has happened and confirm whether he is as well as he appears.”

The medic jotted something down on his notepad, confusion knitting his eyebrows together. The rest of the team looked towards Kimi who shrugged his shoulders and headed for the door. The medic held his arm out to bar the way.

“Mr Raikkonen, I must insist you visit a hospital,” he said, a tone of authority slipping back into his voice. “Please sit back down on the bed.”

“No, I am fine,” Kimi said, lifting the medics arm out of the way and leaving the room as quickly as possible. 

David ran out of the door behind him, followed by the two medics.

“Kimi are you serious?” he spat. “Mate you need medical attention. Your car… The crash… You need help! Seriously, you should not have survived that.”

“Yet here I am perfectly fine,” Kimi said, turning to face David, thunder in his tone. 

He tried to calm his voice a little, the terror of what was happening to him was running loose in his mind. He wanted to clean up and head back to the hotel to think. He wanted to be alone.

“Look, I just want a shower and to go back to the hotel,” he told his engineer, trying to calm his voice. “I will go to the hospital if something feels wrong. I promise.”

He spun on his heels and walked away from the medical bay, towards the showers that were available for drivers to use if they required them. Nobody had tried to follow him so he slipped back out of the clothing his engineer had bought him and stepped under the water, leaving the temperature at its coldest. He stood in the shower, facing upwards into the spray, letting the cold water hit his face before running down his torso. He felt better for the cold, his thoughts calming.

\---

Fernando wandered through the buildings at the back of the pitlane searching for Sebastian. He wanted to check that the German was okay - seeing an accident like that was bad enough, but when you were close with the driver involved it was hellish. His thoughts slipped to Jules, a silent prayer running through his mind as he looked through windows into rooms on either side of the corridor.

He reached the door to the showers and heard water running inside. Slipping through the door, he saw a Ferrari t-shirt on the bench and figured he’d finally found Sebastian. He walked further into the shower room and found the man showering, quickly realising it wasn’t who he was expecting.

Shocked, Fernando looked the man before him up and down. Kimi stood beneath the running water looking perfectly healthy. He had his eyes closed, just letting the cold water run down his body. Fernando stepped backwards slowly, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He took a photo, glancing at the screen to check that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. His phone showed a perfect picture of Kimi Raikkonen, flawless skin, not a drop of blood in sight, showering happily.

Fernando crept back out of the room, not wanting to draw attention to himself. His mind flashed back to the tooth he had found with Kimi’s clothing at the Australian Grand Prix, back to last year and the mess he’d got involved with. Quickly shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he turned back to his phone, creating a text to the two Nico’s and adding Sebastian as an afterthought.

_We need to talk_

He attached the photo to the text and pressed send, heading quickly back to his own garage.


	6. The Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last year in Monza, the Nicos, Sebastian and Fernando experienced a rather strange occurrence....

_Monza ~ The Previous Year_

Ayrton looked down at his legs, his eyes slowly moving up his body, taking in his arms and torso, all clad in the race suit he was wearing on the day of his death. It felt good to be back - to wear his own skin and enjoy the feeling of living again. He looked across at the man opposite him. Dressed in the same clothing Roland Ratzenberger grinned back at him, his eyes blackening over before changing back to the normal colour of his irises.

They looked around their surroundings, noticing that they were in a room that appeared to hold memorabilia such as helmets, gloves and race suits. There were black and white images on the walls, depicting podium celebrations and race cars. Above these were some tall words: 'History of Italian Motorsport'.

"We made history then," Roland said, laughing as he smacked Ayrton on the shoulder.

Ayrton grinned, knowing full well he would have gone down in history. He turned to the door, grabbed the handle and tried to open it. It was locked shut. Roland rolled his eyes.

"Typical. It seems even demons have the same troubles as the living. Could we not have come back as ghosts?" he joked.

They heard footsteps approaching the room that they were locked in, whispered voices soon joined them. They stepped away from the door, retreating backwards into the room, their eyes blinking to black.

The door unlocked with a click and opened slowly. Ayrton slid down to a crouch ready to attack the new arrival, Roland following suit. It was a familiar face that walked in - the man who had set Ayrton free - but he was followed by two others so they remained in defensive positions, just in case.

Fernando Alonso entered the room first, Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel following quickly and stopping, dumbfounded. They were staring at Roland and Ayrton whose eyes were still blackened, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"What is going on?" Sebastian asked, finally tearing his eyes from the duo that he knew to be dead and looking at Fernando.

The Spaniard turned to Sebastian and the two demons took their chance. They darted around the shocked men, easily slipping through Fernando's attempt at catching them, and raced into the corridor beyond. Neither knew where they were going but escaping the locked room was their main priority.

"I can explain," Fernando said quickly, stopping Nico and Sebastian from chasing Ayrton and Roland down the corridor. "Well. Sort of..."

Sebastian and Nico turned back towards Fernando. Nico's face was filled with confusion, Sebastian had turned pale and looked as though he was about to pass out. Part of Fernando was telling him to chase down the two men that had left the room, but he needed to explain to Sebastian and Nico. He needed them to tell him he wasn't going insane. 

"I came in here earlier," Fernando explained. "It was empty, there was nobody about so I thought I'd just... You know, try the helmets on for size. I put Ayrton's on and it was a bit small really, but then it filled with this weird black smoke so I took it off quickly, thinking it was some security thing. Anyway, when I pulled it off the black smoke spread around the room and started to choke me, but then it just suddenly disappeared and Ayrton was sat there. He looked at me with black eyes. He looked like he was about to eat me or something so I legged it out the room and locked the door. 

"I listened in through the keyhole and he was grumbling about something, I couldn't hear properly. Anyway a few seconds later I heard him say 'Ah Roland' and then he choked for a bit and then there were two voices. They were talking about finally finding a moron gullible enough to set them free. They said Bernie's got it coming..."

Fernando's voice wavered as he looked at the men in the room with him. Nico and Sebastian were looking even more confused now, glancing between the helmets in the room and the door that led to the corridor. It didn't seem like they were going to reassure Fernando of his sanity any time soon.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering if this was some kind of joke. Fernando noticed him scan the room for hidden cameras but his eyes eventually landed back on Fernando's, a quizzical look knitting his eyebrows together.

"So... You, presumably the 'gullible moron', managed to raise Ayrton Senna from the dead. And he then raised Roland. And now they're after Bernie," Nico said, apparently taking the situation a little more seriously as he headed out of the door in the direction the two men had gone. "I think we should follow them. They can't have gone far."

The three men found Ayrton and Roland prowling the corridors trying to find their way out without being seen. Fernando and Nico began to tail them, quietly sending Sebastian off to see if he could find out what the hell was going on and how they could sort it out. Neither of them thought it worth warning Bernie - mostly because none of them really knew how to explain what had happened without seeming like they'd lost their marbles. 

Sebastian first returned to the room with the memorabilia, checking again for hidden cameras or some evidence that all of this was one big trick. He didn’t find anything suspicious and nobody around the area had seen anybody beside himself and his two friends enter the room, so he headed to the hotel they were staying in to make use of its wifi connection. 

He trawled the internet for several hours looking into the black smoke that Fernando had mentioned, the black eyes that Ayrton and Roland both had, and any previous occurrences of people rising from the dead. There were many websites about the supernatural with eyewitness accounts of black smoke appearing before strange occurrences, usually possessions, and black eyes were mentioned regularly. 

He was still researching, becoming more engrossed in the stories, when Nico knocked on his door, accompanied by Nico Rosberg who was clutching a cross around his neck. 

"Any luck?" Nico asked. "Don't worry, Nico knows what's going on. He thinks he might be able to help." 

Sebastian glanced at Rosberg, who just smiled back. 

"Well," he started, "I think we have ourselves two vengeance demons. I think they've come back to get their revenge on Bernie for their deaths." 

Rosberg nodded in agreement as Sebastian showed Hulk the websites, explaining how they could identify demons and how to kill them. 

"So, we just need one of those demon blades," Hulk said, hopefully. 

"Or an angel," Sebastian laughed. "Or someone that will allow an angel to posses them..." 

"I have a plan," Rosberg said, rushing out of the room. "You two find Aryton and Roland, and I'll find you when I can sort it." 

The two Germans called Fernando's mobile phone and caught up with him as he watched the demons spying across the paddock. They told him everything they'd read on the internet and explained that Rosberg had a plan. All they had to was follow the demons until Rosberg returned. 

Ayrton and Roland were still searching for Bernie, biding their time, waiting for dark or for him to be alone. It was a race weekend so he was constantly busy greeting dignitaries or generally bossing people about. At the sounds of voices behind them, the demons turned and spotted Fernando, Nico and Sebastian. 

Without thinking, the demons rushed forward to attack the other drivers, using the element of surprise to knock the men to the ground. Once they were down, they kicked and punched at the men, bruising them and cracking bones. 

Seemingly out of nowhere, Nico Rosberg appeared behind them. His eyes seemed glazed as he walked carefully up to the demons and gripped the backs of their heads. A bright light shone outwards from inside the two men and Nico, white noise filling everybody’s ears. 

Suddenly the light and noise disappeared along with Ayrton and Roland, and Nico collapsed to the ground, panting. 

"What the hell was that?" Fernando asked, climbing to his feet and holding out his hands to help the other three up. 

He glanced around, checking that nobody else had noticed what was going on, and making sure that Aryton and Roland had really disappeared. 

"I went to church," Nico replied. "I prayed, like my parents used to tell me. I heard a voice in my head, telling me what I needed to do and I accepted it. I accepted an angel into me to help return Ayrton and Roland to the afterlife." 

He explained this as though it was an obvious solution to the troubles that the men had found themselves in. 

"You _what_?" Sebastian asked, completely confused by what Nico had said.

"I essentially became possessed by an angel," Nico said. "The angel had the powers to kill the demons. He said it was his duty and he would help us." 

"Possessed?" Sebastian mouthed the word. "What the actual fuck is going here? Am I dreaming?" 

Sebastian punched and pinched at his arm, convinced he could wake himself up if only he hurt himself enough. Nothing happened, and he remained in the compound with the two Nico's and Fernando. 

"This is madness," Hulk said, backing away from the group. "What is happening?" 

Rosberg looked at him calmly. 

"I saw things, Nico," Rosberg said. "Strange things. Things that the angel had seen and done. I saw an angel’s true form. I got to feel what he felt when he saw people hurting others and I saw that there are much worse things in this world than vengeance demons." 

Almost as if he suddenly realised what he had just experienced, Rosberg stumbled and fell against the wall, leaning there as he examined his friends’ faces. 

"I think that fairy tales and monsters might be true." 

Later that night when the men had finally plucked up enough courage to part and return to their own rooms, Sebastian had done more research. He had continued researching for many weeks after the events at Monza, hoping he could find some logical explanation to the madness. All he could conclude, however, was that what he once believed to be supernatural nonsense could in fact be very true. The demons and monsters really could live among us. 


	7. The Questioning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in present day, Fernando, Sebastian and the two Nico's meet up after Kimi's crash and discuss what they think is happening. After coming to a horrifying conclusion, they head out to question the four men that Kimi seems to be getting closer to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the longer wait for this chapter. i'm hoping to post chapter eight over this weekend so i'm almost back on track :)

When Fernando finally found the others the two Nico's were huddled together in conversation, clearly looking confused about what the text referred to. Sebastian was sat with Heikki, his former trainer with Red Bull. It was clear he'd been crying but he seemed to have now stopped and was in deep discussion with the Finn. Sebastian looked up as Fernando entered the room, rushing towards him with his phone held out in front of him.

"What happened?" he shouted, his voice breaking. "What is this?"

Fernando waited for Heikki, Rosberg and Hulk to join them and explained what he had seen in the shower room.

"That's all I know," Fernando said with a shrug. "I was looking for you, Seb. Thought you'd be in the medical suite with him. That's when I found him in the shower."

"At least he's OK," Sebastian said, his shoulders drooping as he heaved a sigh of relief.

"OK?" Hulk said disbelievingly. "I watched footage of the crash. Nobody should be 'OK' less than an hour after that happens."

Rosberg, Fernando and Heikki nodded in agreement, sharing questioning glances. Although Heikki had no idea what had happened in the past, he was equally unnerved by the situation. Fernando had no idea how much Sebastian had told him so he was careful with his words.

"I think we should head back to the hotel and talk about this later," he said, pointedly looking at Sebastian and the two Nicos. "Clear our heads and get everything out in the open."

The men all agreed, Hulk steering Sebastian away with Rosberg in tow. Heikki remained behind with Fernando.

"Actually, I have team stuff I need to sort this evening," Heikki said, watching Sebastian walk out of the door. "Make sure he's OK. I know Kimi is fine, but... Sebastian was badly in shock - he'll take time to heal, even if he knows there is nothing wrong now."

Fernando nodded, now convinced that Heikki knew nothing of the reality of supernatural beings. He watched the Finn head out of the room and back towards the Red Bull garage, only leaving the room himself when the corridor outside sounded empty. He headed out of the compound with a pensive look on his face, thinking through every tiny detail that would need to be discussed that evening.

Later that day the men found themselves huddled around a table in the hotel bar, each clutching a soft drink and wondering how to begin the discussion. Fernando sighed and leaned back in his chair, examining the others men's faces as they avoided eye contact with one another.

"I think I should begin," Fernando said, realising it was he who suggested the meeting in the first place. "I'm going to be blunt. I have a theory and I have a couple of reasons to support it."

The other drivers looked at him expectantly, politely waiting for him to continue.

"I believe Kimi might be a werewolf," he said, watching as the two Nico's shared a shocked glance and Sebastian's brow furrowed. "For two simple reasons. Firstly, back in Australia I went to see Kimi after qualifying. I went to congratulate him but he wasn't around so I waited in his changing area for a while. I found a tooth. He said he found it and decided to turn it into a necklace, but it was a huge tooth. Almost a fang. It was canine. I had a look online for images of wolves teeth and it matches, only this was much larger. The size of my little finger..."

He paused and took a sip of a his drink, letting the other drivers consider this new information. He knew their minds would be racing with thoughts of the supernatural after Kimi's strange recovery from the crash and looking at their faces now, he could see they were thinking this through, looking for more clues.

"I researched the lore around werewolves and, besides the obvious bits that come with the lunar cycle, it mentions that speed, stamina, recovery and healing are all enhanced. This could explain how Kimi escaped that crash without a scratch on him."

"And it would explain how he can handle the car so well," Sebastian butted in, looking Fernando in the eyes. "That car vibrates too much to drive as fast as he does. He must have some sort of enhanced ability to control it."

Fernando nodded, running this through his head and trying to make sense of it all. 

"Has anything odd happened on the lunar cycle though," Fernando asked, pulling a diary from his pocket. "The last full moon was last weekend. Did he seem off to you in China, Seb?"

Sebastian's mouth dropped open a little as he recalled finding Kimi naked by the pool after he stood him up.

"Well he didn't turn up for dinner," Sebastian started, turning to Rosberg and Hulk. "And then, after I went with these guys to Amber Lounge the hotel manager took me to see Kimi. He was fast asleep by the pool. Naked."

Sebastian closed his eyes, thinking back to the scene by the poolside, trying to ignore the naked body and look around. Was there blood? Anything to suggest it wasn't just Kimi getting too drunk? Why was he there on his own? He sighed, unable to find anything in his memory.

"I don't remember whether there was clothing or anything out of the ordinary though. He was curled up on his side, but it wasn't an odd position. I thought he'd just been drinking too much and fallen asleep..."

"Which is not unlike Kimi," Hulk chipped in, feeling like he should contribute to the conversation, despite having nothing important to say.

"That's true," Fernando admitted. "But a lot of lore states that you shed your clothing when you transform. Were there clothes by the pool?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Sebastian and he shook his head.

"I don't think so. There were towels on the sunbeds, but that is all I remember," he said softly, annoyed at himself for not paying more attention, even though he'd had no reason to at the time. "He has been kinda funny lately - ignoring me or being off with me. Oh, and he's been hanging out with the Lotus and Sauber drivers."

Hulk almost dropped his glass which was halfway to his lips.

"What if he's trying to form a pack?" he asked.

Rosberg snorted a short laugh before noticing the looks of worry on everybody else's faces.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "Surely if he was making a pack he'd go for the elite - the world champions, the guys who win all the time?"

Hulk started to ask if Rosberg was offended that he'd not been chosen but was cut off by Fernando.

"I read about this," he said, flicking through the pages of his diary to find a note he had made. "' _A lone wolf will feel the need to form a pack. His urge will be to find those weaker than him so that he will be the Alpha wolf and they will follow._ '"

The men looked at each other, concern clearly evident on their faces.

"Shit," Hulk said. "You don't think he's bitten them?"

"They were all together at the bar when we arrived here," Rosberg remembered. "Maybe he's already forming his pack."

"I think we need to speak to them," Fernando said. "We need to find out what Kimi wants with them before anyone gets hurt."

\--

The following evening the men found themselves sat around a table in the corner of a classy bar at the race after-party, preparing to find out exactly what was happening with Kimi's new friends. Kimi had flown home after his crash - disqualified from the race, he'd been angry and stormed off. Sebastian had made sure that he had boarded a flight and there was no way for him to attend the party, giving them plenty of time to gather more information.

Fernando was first to leave the table, heading towards the bar as Pastor left the dance floor to quench his thirst with a pint of water.

"Nice moves," the Spaniard commented as he dropped onto a stool beside the Venezuelan. 

Pastor grinned before gulping down the icy cold water.

"Maybe I should be a dancer, yes?" he quipped, wiggling his hips in time with the song that was blasting around the room.

Fernando laughed, waving his glass at the barman for a refill. He turned around and leaned on the bar to watch the people still on the dance floor, trying to relax himself as he started his interrogation.

"Will you have your new friend Kimi dancing by the end of the season?" he asked, not moving his eyes from the women dancing nearest the DJ.

Pastor flushed red, glad for the darkness in the club.

"I doubt so," he replied. "He likes his drink, but he's more likely to hit you than dance with you."

"Really?" Fernando said, turning to face Pastor.

He knew that Kimi was often grumpy and short with people, but had something happened with Pastor to make him say that?

"You know Kimi," Pastor said shrugging before a grin split across his face. "Fancy a dance off?"

"No, thank you," Fernando replied, quickly shaking his head before continuing his questioning. "So how come you're good friends now, anyway?"

"We're not good friends," Pastor replied, turning redder still. "He just... Invites me for drinks now."

"Just drinks?" Fernando was disappointed, he'd hoped for juicy gossip that he could take back to the others. "Nothing strange or out of the ordinary?"

Pastor's face was now as red as Kimi's car and he couldn't meet Fernando's eyes.

"What are you all embarrassed about?" Fernando asked, leaning forward towards the Venezuelan. "You can tell me. Anything. I will not judge or think you strange."

Pastor flickered his eyes towards Fernando briefly, checking to see whether the Spaniard was serious or not. He looked genuinely concerned which panicked Pastor slightly. Did Fernando know what had happened the night before he'd awoken to find Kimi in his room? Had Fernando been involved?

"Why do you ask this?" he replied, warily. "What do you want me to tell you?"

"No reason," Fernando replied. "Just Kimi has been acting oddly and not many people could crash so badly in qualifying and walk away unharmed. There has been nothing strange for you?"

Pastor's thoughts went back to his talks with Romain, Marcus and Felipe. They'd told him such crazy stories and he still wasn't sure they weren't playing with him. He couldn't tell Fernando about that though - what if it all was just a bit of fun? He shoved the thoughts of Kimi lying naked beside him in bed into the furthest depths of his mind.

"Nothing strange. He seems fine, maybe he's just lucky," he said curtly, placing his empty glass heavily onto the bar. "Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to dance."

Fernando watched him leave and head to the dance floor, grabbing a latino girl by the arm and pulling her in to dance with him. He'd definitely hit a nerve somewhere. Something had definitely happened between Kimi and Pastor.

\--

Rosberg had bided his time at the after-party. He’d had a fair bit to drink and was feeling quite tipsy, but he could see that Romain was just drunk enough to loosen up so he decided to make his move. 

He walked across the dance floor to the Frenchman who was holding himself up on the back of a chair whilst he swigged from a bottle, watching Pastor dance with a group of girls.

“Romain,” he said as he approached. “A word?”

“Sure,” the Frenchman replied, falling into the chair as he tried to put his drink down on the table. “W’sup?”

Nico looked into Romain’s eyes and could see how drunk he was. He’d planned to play it tactfully - start a conversation and then ask if he’d seen anything odd about Kimi - but he didn’t think he needed to anymore. Not to mention that if he waited too long, Romain would probably fall into a drunken slumber.

“Is Kimi a werewolf?” he blurted, hoping that the people sat on surrounding tables couldn’t hear.

Romain’s face paled, his ginger freckles standing out in the neon lighting that filled the room.

“Yes,” he said, his thoughts sobering a little. “Well. I think so. I thought it was a dream at first but maybe it wasn’t.”

Nico was taken aback. He hadn’t thought it would be that easy. He hadn’t planned any questions for an instance where Romain would be so open about Kimi’s fate.

“Are _you_ a werewolf?” he asked, his eyes still wide with shock.

Romain looked down at his legs and held his arms out in front of them to inspect them.

“No,” he decided. “I’m human.”

Nico raised an eyebrow, wondering if Romain was toying with him or if he was really so drunk he’d had to check that he was still human.

“How do you know that Kimi is, then?” he asked, finally putting his brain to use and asking an important question.

“I saw him,” Romain said, picking his bottle up and tipping it back to pour the liquid down his throat. “It was horrible.”

He paused for a moment, wondering if he really wanted to relive the dream that he now knew had been reality. Nico sat opposite him, silently waiting for more. He looked at the German, examining his face, wondering if something had happened to him too.

“I was trapped in a lift,” he said quietly, his voice barely audible above the music that pumped through the room. “He transformed as the lift door opened and he ran at me. Hair just sprouted out from everywhere and he buckled over onto all fours. He was growling and snarling and his teeth were huge and his eyes were terrifying. He kept looking down the corridor. His body kept turning to the left but then looking back at me.”

He paused again, glancing at Nico, who sat with his mouth slightly open, his eyes looking confused but believing.

“I passed out,” he continued. “I don’t know what happened. I woke up in bed and when I got to the garage my team were all laughing at the fact I’d been so drunk I’d passed out in the lift. They found me apparently. They carried me to my room.”

His fingers were absently picking at the label on the bottle, little flakes of paper dropping to the table’s surface and sticking under his nails. Nico watched his hands work for a while, before grabbing them with his own and pulling the bottle away from him.

“Did he bite you, Romain?” he asked, looking the Frenchman in the eyes, his voice and expression serious and concerned.

“I... I don’t think so,” Romain replied, turning the sentence into a question. “How would I know?”

“Was there blood? A strange mark?” he said, remembering what Fernando and Sebastian had told him. “Have you felt stronger, quicker? Like you have more power and agility than before?”

Romain thought back over the past few days, trying to think if he’d found any strange marks on his body or managed to do something more than he normally could in training. He couldn’t remember seeing any marks and he’d been in the gym that morning, annoyed that he’d not managed to run as far as he had the night before, so surely he was still human.

He shook his head, turning his mouth down as he looked at Nico.

“Sorry,” he said. “Nothing that stands out to me.”

Nico let out a long breath.

“I’ll go get us both a drink,” he said, raising from the chair beside Romain, silently thanking God that there was one less potential werewolf on the loose.


	8. The Debrief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meet together to discuss the findings of their chats with the the Lotus and Sauber drivers. They come to a conclussion about Kimi and make a decision on how to proceed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> friendly reminder that this is the second post in two days, so don't accidentally miss the last chapter! :)

The morning after their inquisition at Amber Lounge, Hulk woke up to hear somebody pounding on his hotel door. He slowly dragged himself out of bed, wrapping the sheet around himself as he walked to the door. His head ached from the drinking he had done after he’d questioned Marcus in the toilets of the club. The pounding on the door only made it worse and he drew nearer to the source. He twisted the lock on the door and opened it just enough to stick his head around.

"Oh good, you're awake," Fernando grinned at him. "Come on, breakfast debrief."

The Spaniard pointed down the corridor toward the lift and Hulk cleared his throat, rubbing his eyes and ruffling his hair.

"Two minutes," he croaked, looking down at his body wrapped in the sheet. "Naked!"

Fernando waited outside the door while Nico dressed. The German would have preferred a shower to clear his head, but with the Spaniard waiting outside he simply splashed his face with cold water and rubbed some styling wax into his hair. He grabbed his keycard and headed out of the room, walking with Fernando to the hotel restaurant in silence. 

They joined Sebastian and Rosberg at their table once they'd made their choices at the buffet and Nico quickly set about eating the bowl of cereal that he considered his starter.

"So what did you learn?" Fernando asked before taking a sip of coffee and examining the men at the table.

Looking around the table he saw the faces of three glum men. He already knew the answer from their expressions but he wanted to hear the full stories in case there was something important that they would need to know to fight the beast that was residing in their colleague.

Rosberg divulged his findings first, retelling Romain's story carefully so as not to miss anything out. Hulk and Sebastian nodded at certain parts of the story and Fernando gathered that they must have stories that fitted a similar theme. The Spaniard followed Rosberg’s story by telling the group that Pastor wasn't so forthcoming and although he said there was nothing out of the ordinary, he was definitely hiding something.

Hulk, who had finished with his cereal and was now stuffing his face with a full English breakfast, placed his knife and fork down beside his plate to speak next. 

"I heard a similar story as Nico from Marcus," he began, looking at each of the men sat around the table in turn. "He said that he had been sat by the hotel in China, upset after his troubles in free practice, when Kimi had approached him. He was just heading back into the hotel after they had spoken when he heard Kimi cry out and as he turned, he saw him transforming. He said that Kimi shouted for him to run, so he did."

Nico paused to pick up a slice of bacon with his fingers and bite into it. He continued with his mouth half full, chewing between sentences.

"Apparently he looked out the hotel window later on and saw Kimi asleep in the middle of the road, completely naked. His clothes were in a ripped pile beside him. Marcus went down and carried him to his hotel room, telling the staff in the lobby he was drunk. He let himself into Kimi’s room with the key card he found in his pocket and put him into bed. He said that Felipe had told him he had a similar experience, is that true?"

The men all turned to look at Sebastian who nodded, gulping down the coffee he had just taken a mouthful of.

"It is true. Felipe and Kimi had been out for dinner,” Sebastian began, clearly annoyed by this fact. “Kimi transformed as they left the restaurant and Felipe took refuge in a local’s house. He said that he left the house in the early hours of the morning and found Kimi outside. He thought he'd passed out so he took him back to the hotel. He said that he thought he'd imagined it until he found out the same thing had happened to Marcus. He hadn't been bitten, he escaped before Kimi had fully transformed."

Fernando nodded, letting out a long sigh of relief. 

"So it seems that none of the pack have been bitten, yet" he said. "Although Pastor is still a mystery. I doubt that he has been bitten though, as he is not driving or behaving any differently to normal."

The group sat in silence while they finished their breakfasts. That afternoon they would be flying out for the Bahrain Grand Prix. They had arranged flights together to discuss what they had heard, but they were all in silent agreement that there was nothing to discuss - Kimi was a werewolf and they needed to stop him before somebody got hurt. They needed to protect Felipe, Marcus, Pastor and Romain.

"We need a plan," Sebastian said, breaking the silence and he looked between Hulk and Fernando. "How do we stop a werewolf? How do we stop him biting his gang?"

Fernando pulled a notepad from his pocket, flipping through the pages until he found one that was filled with scribbles and drawings.

"I spent the night researching more," he said, looking down at his notes. "I could find nothing about curing a werewolf. It seems killing is the only solution."

He glanced at Sebastian whose eyes glazed over, despite his nod for Fernando to continue.

"They're deterred by silver so I suggest that we let the Lotus and Sauber drivers know this so they can carry something with them. We should do the same, just in case," he said glancing across to check that the hotel staff were not looking as Sebastian pocketed a silver spoon from the table. "The only way to kill them appears to involve a gun called the colt which has been lost for years, chopping the werewolf to pieces, or 'vamptonite', of which the secret ingredient is some sort of syrup mixture I've never heard of. I looked all over the internet but there doesn’t seem to be anywhere you can buy it, so I think that is not an option for us."

He sipped his coffee while he paused for this to sink in with the other drivers. Sebastian was staring blankly across the room. Fernando wasn’t sure if he’d heard anything that he had said, but if they were going to get to the bottom of this problem they needed Sebastian to keep it together and talk to Kimi. He was the only one that Kimi would trust.

"We need to tail Kimi," he said. "We need to get close and see him when he shape shifts."

The two Nico's turned to Sebastian who was staring at his empty plate.

"Sebastian," Hulk said, tapping him on the shoulder. "We need you to get back in with Kimi. We need you to find out exactly what happens to him when he transforms."

"The next full moon coincides with the Spanish Grand Prix," Fernando added. "You need to spend a night with him, watch how he transforms and follow him when he does. We need to find out if he remembers any of his time as a wolf and whether he is aware of himself when he's in that form. We need to find out if he _knows_ he is a werewolf."

Sebastian stared at the men around the table, each of them staring back with a mixture of hope and fear in their eyes. He nodded slowly, telling himself there would be another way. They were going to help Kimi. Together they would find a way to cure him. There was no way Sebastian was going to let his best friend - or what used to be his best friend - die.

"I'll do it," he said, his brows furrowing with determination. “And I’ll find a way to help him, if it’s the last thing I do.”


	9. The Spoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian begins to tail Kimi, but decides to let loose a little after finding himself on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix during another full moon. The last person he expects to see there is Kimi himself, but the drunken Finn needs Sebastian's help and the walk home takes an unexpected turn.

Sebastian had been watching Kimi closely. At the Bahrain Grand Prix the Finn had somehow managed to work his way out of any plans that Sebastian had for the pair of them, only to be seen out with a worried looking Felipe, Marcus, Pastor or Romain. It had stopped hurting Sebastian that Kimi would shrug him off so easily to spend time with the others - the time that he spent alone, he spent researching, trying to find a way to cure his friend.

The four drivers that Kimi seemed to be targeting had all been warned about keeping silver on their person. Felipe, Marcus and Romain had quickly understood, gathering silver coins to carry in their pockets in a hope it would keep the Finn at bay. Pastor had been confused until Hulk and Rosberg had sat him down, along with the other three drivers, and explained in detail what they believed was happening. Oddly, Pastor didn't seem all that concerned, but he promised to keep something silver with him just in case.

The next full moon fell on the Spanish Grand Prix and Fernando had insisted that Sebastian kept a closer eye on Kimi. The German had been tailing him all weekend, arranging for his hotel room to be next to the Finn's. He had heard nothing strange during each night, having followed Kimi home from the track and watched him enter his room to have a shower. He'd heard the TV switch on and the sound of the bed creaking as it became occupied each night, and then he'd fallen asleep, waking up each morning to hear Kimi leaving his room to head for breakfast.

After the event on Sunday everybody headed to Amber Lounge, all wanting to let their hair down after a great race. Sebastian had placed third after Kimi had troubles during a pit stop. It was his first podium of the season and he wanted to celebrate, using the fact he'd heard no trouble from Kimi the past few nights as an excuse to give up on his watch.

When he finally got through the paparazzi and fans outside the club and answered a few questions for the media, Sebastian was surprised to find Kimi inside, already rather drunk and flailing about on the dance floor with Pastor. Sebastian smiled to himself, knowing that a drunken Kimi was far more easy to manipulate than a sober one - he'd just have to bide his time, then he could get Kimi alone and find out what the hell was happening.

Walking over to the bar he noticed that Fernando was leaning against it, watching Kimi dance with a bemused expression across his face.

"You know Pastor told me he didn't think he'd ever manage to get Kimi to dance," he said as the German sat on a stool beside him. "And yet here we are a few weeks later."

Sebastian turned his eyes away from the dance floor as Kimi ground himself against Pastor, laughing as the Venezuelan wiggled his hips and waved his arms about in the air. All of the years Sebastian had been close to Kimi, his idea of fun had been a few pints before dragging the German up a ski slope and shoving him off the top - he'd never been one for socialising with other drivers and definitely not dancing.

"Well at least he's not wolfing out," Sebastian said as he waved the barman over for a drink. "The moon must be up by now and he's still human. I've heard nothing strange in the nights. Maybe we we're wrong? Maybe it’s all some trick by the Sauber and Lotus guys?"

Fernando nodded, his brow furrowed, wondering how Kimi was able to spend the night at Amber Lounge when the full moon had risen before he had even left the hotel.

"It doesn't explain the crash though," Fernando replied. "You saw it. It was certain death."

"Perhaps he's only affected if the moonlight hits him?" Sebastian suggested, taking a sip of the cold beer that was placed into his hand by the barman. "Perhaps he got here before the moon was up and he'll be okay as long as he avoids moonlight."

Fernando's eyes widened.

"You could be right," he said, turning to face the German. "We need to get him outside. You need to see what happens when the moonlight hits him."

Sebastian turned his eyes from the Spaniard's just in time to see Kimi stumbling up the stairs from the dance floor. In a drunken stupor, Kimi sat on the steps, leaning his head against the handrail. Sebastian noticed one of the club’s security guards heading over to remove him from the steps so he rushed to Kimi's side, grabbing him under the arms and lifting him to his feet.

"Come on, Kimi," he said, hooking one of the Finn's arms around his neck. "I think it's time you went back to the hotel."

Kimi slumped against Sebastian's body, pretending to walk whilst the German carried him out of the club and onto the street. Sebastian was grateful to find that the skies had clouded over - he wasn't sure how he was going to explain his friend transforming into a rabid drunken dog in the middle of the street.

"Fresh air," Kimi gasped, gulping in deep breaths as he tried to stand on his own feet. 

After a few moments of glancing between the skies and his friend, Sebastian decided that the Finn seemed to have sobered enough to move from the entrance to the club.

"Maybe we should walk back to the hotel," he suggested. "So you can get some proper fresh air."

Kimi nodded, walking along the path in what Sebastian thought could only be a drunken straight line. He kept glancing up at the skies, unable to see moonlight through the clouds, and hoping that the moon would stay covered for their walk home.

They walked in silence, Sebastian grabbing Kimi's arm each time he stumbled and giggling as he mumbled about how much he loved him every now and then. It was a quiet night, being a Sunday, and the streets were mostly deserted, giving Sebastian a chance to enjoy his friend’s presence, having spent so little time with him lately. He admired how strong his friend looked, despite his drunken wobbles, and how dark his hair looked under the night sky.

 _Dark?_ Sebastian thought to himself, his eyes snapping back to Kimi's usually blonde hair, which seemed to be thickening by the second.

He looked upward and saw that the moon was peeking through the clouds, sending beams of light down upon the street they were walking along. 

At first Kimi seemed unaware of his hair changing, but suddenly he buckled over, tearing himself from Sebastian's arms and landing on all fours, panting heavily. He cried out in what Sebastian assumed was pain as he watched his hands fur over, his face contorting into the shape of a muzzle, his bones cracking to form the shape of the wolf.

"No," Sebastian said to himself, pleading that this wasn't real. "No. You have to stop! No. Please, no."

By the end of the sentence he was screaming, pulling the silver spoon from his back pocket and thrusting it towards the form that used to be Kimi. He hit the wolf with the silver spoon and it howled in pain, cowering into the wall behind it, trying to drag its legs in as close to its body as possible. 

Sebastian stared into the wolf’s eyes and he was sure he could see a little bit of humanity in the terrified look that was shifting between Sebastian's face and the spoon. He pushed the spoon nearer to the wolf and it whimpered, glancing around to see how it could escape.

"Kimi," Sebastian said, tears filling his eyes and flowing out of the corners. "Kimi, I don't want to hurt you. Are you still there? You need to stop this. Change back. You're human Kimi, not a wolf. Human, remember."

The wolf tried to push itself further against the wall as Sebastian stepped towards it, spoon out in front of its teeth. He bent down so that his face was level with the wolf’s eyes and he slowly reached a shaking hand out to stroke behind its ears. Tears silently dropped to the pavement as he saw the fear behind its eyes melt slightly at the touch.

"Come back to me Kimi," he said. "This isn't you. Remember who you really are."

The wolf let Sebastian stroke him a while, panting heavily, not removing its eyes from the spoon that had caused it so much pain. Sebastian tried to put his arms around the wolf’s neck, to let Kimi know that he cared and that he didn't want to lose him, but the wolf dodged to the side, briefly hitting the silver spoon and crying out in pain before it bolted from Sebastian in a bid for escape. 

Sebastian dropped to the floor crying heavily, unable to stop the tears falling or control his heavy breathing. His head rested on his knees, his eyes covered by his hands. He dropped the silver spoon to the floor as his whole body shook with sadness. 

He stayed this way for some time, unable to stop himself from crying, not wanting to go back to the hotel and admit what had happened. 

It was some moments before Sebastian realised that he could feel warmth at his side. He was all cried out, his tears dried up, but his face and jeans were still damp. He wiped his face with his hands and cleared his eyes, looking to his side and seeing a furry shape curled up beside him.

He turned sideways to see the shape of a wolf, fast asleep beside him on the pavement. He watched it breathing, its chest rising and falling slowly, calming Sebastian whose instincts were telling him to run. He placed his hand behind the wolf’s ears again, stroking lightly, and was shocked to see that the fur began receding and the wolf’s body slowly transformed, soundlessly and fluidly back into Kimi's body.

"Sebastian?" Kimi asked, waking and huddling up against the German's side. "What happened? Why am I naked? Why are you crying?"

Sebastian's eyes filled with fresh tears as he flung his arms around Kimi's neck, choking sobs into the Finn's shoulders.

"Kimi, you're OK," was all he could say as he clung to his friend. "It was horrible, but you're OK. You don't remember anything?"

Sebastian passed Kimi his torn clothing and the Finn dressed himself, seemingly unaware of how ripped and ruined they were.

"Remember any of what?" Kimi replied, grinning as his zipped up his jeans. "The last thing I remember was Pastor buying me shots. Fun night, huh?"

Sebastian stared at him for a few moments, not sure if he was joking. Kimi mostly looked like he was just sobering up from a heavy night of drinking and wanted to know what had happened after he tipped over the edge.

"Lets just get you back to the hotel," Sebastian replied, getting to his feet and discretely pocketing the spoon. "You had a heavy night, you need to sleep."

He held his hand out for the Finn who used it to pull himself upright. Sebastian didn't let go, tangling their fingers together as they walked the remaining distance to the hotel. He rubbed his thumb lightly against the Finn's hand, his eyes darting upwards to the moon that still shone down on them, hoping that his touch was enough to keep Kimi in human form.

They walked hand in hand back to the hotel and took the lift up to their rooms. Sebastian studied Kimi's face as they rose to their floor. He looked blissfully unaware of what had happened during their walk from the club. He looked like he had just had an enjoyable night out, had a little too much to drink and now wore a cheeky 'not sure, but I might have made a fool of myself again' smile as he leaned on the wall of the elevator.

As the lift doors opened they stepped out and continued in silence to their rooms, where Kimi slid the key card into his door, walked in and closed it behind him without saying goodbye to Sebastian. The German stood a few moments, listening to any sign of Kimi transforming again, but all he heard was the creaking of the bed, followed almost immediately by snoring.

He sadly entered his own room next door, wanting to be with Kimi and make sure he was really OK. He slid out of his clothing and between the sheets of his bed, pulling the spoon from his pocket and turning it between his fingers, remembering the look in the wolf’s eyes as it had touched it. He imagined that same look in Kimi's eyes, knowing that when he hurt the wolf, he hurt Kimi too.

"I _will_ find a way to sort this, Kimi," he said to himself, as more tears began to flow from his eyes. "If it's the last thing I do."


	10. The Acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian seems rather upset when Nico finds him at breakfast the next morning and gradually drags the truth out of him. Sebastian heads back to his room to think things through but is interrupted by another friend who tries to help.

Nico found Sebastian in the corner of the hotel restaurant at breakfast the next morning. His head was pounding but he knew after a nice hearty breakfast and a few glasses of orange juice he'd feel much better. He piled his plate with toast, beans, bacon and scrambled eggs and shuffled over to join Sebastian.

The German was stirring his cereal around in the milk in his bowl. It looked untouched, turning to a gloopy mess that made Nico's stomach churn a little more. The tea beside Sebastian's arm was also untouched. Nico was sure that had gone cold too. He sat in the chair opposite him, not asking if it was okay for him to sit there.

"Alright, Seb?" Nico croaked before gulping down some juice to clear his throat a little.

The man at the other side of the table shrugged his shoulders, not lifting his eyes from the mush in the bowl.

"Seb?" Nico asked, ignoring his food and grabbing the spoon from his friend’s hand. "What's up? What's happened?"

Nico dropped the spoon onto a napkin and moved the bowl of cereal to the edge of the table. He slid his own plate to the center of the table.

"Eat something," he gestured at the food. "You'll feel better."

As if to encourage Sebastian, Nico grabbed a slice of bacon and shoved it, whole, into his mouth. Sebastian cautiously picked up another slice and nibbled at it.

"Thanks, Hulk," he mumbled, his eyes still staring blankly at the table.

"Is it Kimi?" Nico asked, his brain starting to kick in a little as the food reached his stomach. "I saw you leave with him. What happened?"

Sebastian placed the bacon back on the plate, barely touched, and inhaled deeply. He dragged his eyes from the table and looked at Nico. Now that he looked up, Nico could see that his eyes were red and puffy, like he'd been crying for sometime. 

"He's a werewolf," Sebastian breathed, barely audible against the broken sob that came from his throat as the words left his lips.

Nico gave Sebastian a moment to compose himself before replying.

"For sure?" he asked, concern knitted across his brow.

Sebastian nodded, his eyes trying to make contact with Nico's but shying away each time. He took a large gulp before replying.

"He was OK at first. The clouds covered the moon," he said, mentally reliving their walk back to the hotel. "But then the clouds parted and he fell to the floor and changed right in front of me. The spoon seemed to hurt him. His eyes, Nico..."

He broke off as another wave of emotion hit him. His throat and eyes ached from a night of sobbing and there were no tears left to shed. He took a few deep calming breaths and Nico reached across to grip his hand, nodding for Sebastian to continue.

"The wolf, Kimi, its eyes... They were almost human," he continued. "But then he ran off. I don't know what happened after that as I was too upset, but when I finally looked up he was curled up by my side. He shifted back in his sleep and when he woke up, as Kimi, he didn't remember a thing."

Nico wasn't sure how to reply, instead mimicking Sebastian’s earlier actions and sliding scrambled egg around his plate awkwardly.

He looked up as he heard Sebastian slide his chair away from the table.

"I have to go," he said hurriedly and he rushed out of the restaurant.

Nico watched him leave before returning to his thoughts. He forked at some of the egg, wondering what they should do. They couldn't let a live werewolf run around but as far as he knew Kimi hadn't harmed anybody yet. Maybe the fairy stories weren't true - maybe werewolves weren't vicious. But could they really risk everybody’s safety on a bunch of maybes? 

\----

Sebastian sat on the floor of his hotel room, staring at the spoon. It felt like he was holding a knife. A sharp blade that could cut through skin with barely a touch. 

The image of the wolf’s hurt eyes after Sebastian had touched him with the spoon burned into his brain. He kept trying to tell himself that it was for protection but he had seen the pain it had caused. In those few seconds he had seen Kimi's eyes. He had hurt his friend.

But he had come back. The wolf had come back and curled up beside Sebastian. Sebastian's touch had brought Kimi back from the change. Could that mean something? Could wolves really bond like in the _Twilight_ films? Could Sebastian stop Kimi from transforming in the future if he knew it was going to happen?

A knock at the hotel room door brought Sebastian round from his questions. He climbed to his feet and placed the spoon by his wallet on the sideboard before cautiously peering out of the peephole.

Heikki stood in the corridor, looking slightly concerned.

Sebastian opened the door and silently gestured for the Finn to enter.

"Nico said you could do with a friend," Heikki said as he slid past Sebastian into the room.

He sat himself on the edge of the bed and waited for Sebastian to join him. They sat in silence for some time before the German finally spoke.

"I found out that a rumour about Kimi is true," he said, trying not to give too much away for fear of having to explain everything to Heikki. "But I still can't believe that he is a bad person. I can't look him in the eyes and condemn him. I think there is still good in him."

Heikki could tell that Sebastian didn't want to explain what it was that had happened with Kimi. He hadn't heard any rumours, beside the ones of the Finn getting far too drunk, so he didn't really know what to say to comfort his friend.

"He's changed," Sebastian continued. "He's not the same person he was last year. I wanted so much for us to be closer this year, but he's distanced himself and I understand why now. But I want to help him. I just don't know how."

Sebastian broke down into tears, his head in his hands. Heikki shuffled closer to him and wrapped an arm around the German, pulling him into his chest.

"Have you spoken to him about it, Sebastian?" Heikki asked, stroking his hair in an attempt to calm him down. "Perhaps he doesn't realise he's changed so much?"

Sebastian shook his head, wiping his eyes on the backs of his hands.

"I don't know how to tell him," Sebastian replied between small sobs. "He seems so happy."

"But he's making you unhappy," Heikki said, pulling a tissue from his pocket and handing it to Sebastian. "I'm sure he doesn't mean to. He probably doesn't even know. Talk to him. If it doesn't clear the air at least you tried."

Sebastian blew his nose into the tissue. He rubbed his eyes so that he could focus on Heikki more clearly.

"I will try," Sebastian replied quietly, standing up and placing the used tissue in the bin. "I should probably shower now. I have a flight soon."

Heikki got to his feet as Sebastian headed towards the door, clearly wanting him to leave. As they passed in the doorway, the Finn clutched Sebastian's shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Take care Sebastian," he said. "Remember that I'm always here if you need to talk."


	11. The Agreement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian spends some time with Kimi during the Canadian Grand Prix and finally plucks up the courage to confront the Finn about what is happening. Kimi believes it is all just fairy stories.

Kimi and Sebastian flew out to the Canadian Grand Prix a few days earlier than the rest of their team. Sebastian had suggested the idea after discovering that the race fell on another full moon, but had told Kimi it would be nice to see some more of Canada than just the race track. After the events in Spain, Kimi had seemed to want to spend more time with the German and they'd had a weekend rebuilding their friendship at Monaco in the weeks between.

The days passed quickly and Sebastian could never quite find the right time or the courage to bring up the topic of werewolves with the Finn. It had been his intention to approach the subject before the race weekend began but words failed him. He didn't have the heart to bring up such a complicated subject when Kimi seemed almost back to his former self.

Sebastian watched the drivers press conference from the back of the room. Kimi, who had found himself in the running for the championship following wins in the last few races, seemed relaxed and happy. Despite giving short and blunt answers to the press, Sebastian could tell that the Finn was feeling good about the weekend ahead. After each answer he would glance across at Sebastian and let a small smile reach his eyes before concentrating on the next question.

They had agreed to spend the evening in Kimi's hotel room watching a DVD and chilling out before the hard work started the following morning. Sebastian's intention was to spend the night in Kimi's room, equipped with several silver utensils, to see if he could prevent Kimi from wolfing out when the moon rose. He wasn't sure it would work and he knew he would be endangering himself but he had to find out if there was a way to stop the change completely.

That evening, Sebastian approached Kimi's hotel room cautiously. He had a full set of cutlery in the back pockets of his jeans and was trying not to arouse suspicion by causing them to clash together. He had spent the afternoon rehearsing how he was going to bring up the subject of werewolves with his friend and how he was going to convince Kimi that he thought he could help him. 

He knew that the Finn was completely oblivious to what was really happening, putting his nightly black-outs down to too much alcohol, but he had to find a way to show Kimi that he was changing. He had the Sauber and Lotus drivers, who Kimi had tried to invite along to their DVD evening, as a vague proof that Kimi was, even in human form, trying to form a pack, but otherwise he just had to hope that bringing up werewolves would jog something in Kimi's memory. 

He knocked on the door, adjusting the fork in his back pocket so that the prongs wouldn't skewer his buttocks when he sat down.

"It's open," Kimi shouted from inside.

Sebastian entered the room and found Kimi pouring two beers into glasses on the sideboard. When he had finished pouring, he handed one to Sebastian whilst taking a sip of his own.

"I thought we could watch through some _Fast and Furious_ ," Kimi said, pulling a DVD case from his rucksack that lay under the window. "Since I've not seen the latest one. A recap."

He grinned at Sebastian, who was trying to get comfortable on the bed without cutlery poking in places that were painful. 

"Sounds good," Sebastian replied, finally finding a safe position. "But leave the curtains open."

The Finn stopped closing the curtains and shrugged as he moved to slot the DVD into the laptop which he had already hooked up to the TV. He pressed the play button on the remote and climbed onto the bed beside Sebastian, resting his arms behind his head against the wall.

Kimi became absorbed in the film almost as soon as it started. Sebastian, however, was switching glances between the film, the Finn beside him and the sky outside. It was ever darkening and Sebastian knew the moon would rise at any moment. He inhaled a long, slow breath, telling himself it was now or never.

"Kimi," he started, shuffling slightly so that the cutlery was more easily accessible if the moonlight caught them unawares.

The Finn grunted, not taking his eyes from the TV screen, barely blinking as he consumed the action.

"Do you remember..." Sebastian continued, pausing to find the best way of wording his question. "Do you remember when we were in Spain and you came around in the street?"

Kimi smiled, a glint in his eyes suggesting he still found the story amusing.

"Yea, good night that was," he said.

"No," Sebastian said, quietly, glancing out the window before turning to face Kimi again. "It wasn't a good night, Kimi. It was awful."

"Why?" the Finn replied, still not looking away from the TV.

Sebastian gulped, remembering Heikki's words. If he gave up now it would never get said and there was too much risk in leaving Kimi unaware. If Kimi didn't believe him, he'd just have to get proof. He had his mobile phone in his pocket, he could always let the transformation happen and take photos if he needed to.

"You changed that night, Kimi. And I don't mean you got drunk and did stupid stuff, I mean you actually changed." Sebastian glanced across at the Finn, hoping he was paying attention, but not really able to tell since he refused to look away from the film. "I was carrying you home from the club and the moon shone through the clouds and then you transformed. You..." he paused for breath, gulping down a sob. "You changed into a huge wolf. Your bones cracked and changed into a wolf’s form and if it wasn't for the spoon I had with me then you'd have attacked me, I'm sure. It was..."

"What?" Kimi laughed, cutting Sebastian's story short and finally tearing his eyes away from the screen.

He was laughing hard, the whole bed shaking as he tried to breathe and laugh at the same time. Sebastian gaped at him, unable to comprehend that he would find this funny. Unable to believe that Kimi didn’t remember anything - that the mention of his transformation wouldn’t bring back some tiny little bit of his memory.

"How much did you drink that night?" Kimi asked, still laughing but finally looking at Sebastian instead of the film. "Relax, that's all fairy stories. It was probably just a dream."

The Finn leaned back against the wall and his eyes returned to the film, though he chuckled quietly for a few more moments. Sebastian shuffled down the bed, secretly pulling the cutlery out of his pocket and placing them quietly on the bedside table. He lay down, turning his back to Kimi so the Finn couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes. Glancing upwards he saw the moon shining through the window, bathing the carpet and the bottom of the bed in light.

Sebastian closed his eyes, stopping the tears from falling onto the pillow. He breathed in through his nose, exhaling slowly through his mouth, trying to calm his nerves. The moon was shining fully and Kimi was still human. Perhaps all he needed was someone to keep him human during the full moon. Maybe he just needed someone there who knew how to keep him relaxed and happy and that would stop the wolf inside him from breaking free.

The German lay in silence until the film ended. He heard Kimi get up and change the DVD, pressing play so that the second film began to roll, but he didn’t move. He couldn’t bring himself to look at his friend. The werewolf who wouldn’t even entertain him long enough to explain. 

Kimi placed himself back in the bed, ignoring Sebastian who was lost in thought. Eventually, the efforts of the day caught up with Sebastian and he slowly fell victim to sleep, leaving Kimi to finish the _Fast and Furious_ marathon by himself.

\---

When Sebastian awoke the following morning he immediately felt warm and sticky. At first he was confused about why he was sweating so profusely, but then the smell hit him. 

He could almost taste it and it made him want to vomit.

He spun over in the bed and found the sheets covered with blood. Gagging at the metallic taste that clung to his throat, he ran his hands across his body and quickly determined it wasn't his own blood. He lifted the sheets and found Kimi beside him. He was naked and blood was smeared across him, as though someone had rubbed their hands in it and drawn them across his torso. 

Sebastian tore the duvet from the bed, exposing Kimi to the daylight that was pouring through the window. Examining him quickly, he found no cuts or lesions, but he noticed that the Finn's mouth and hands were stained with dry blood, his teeth and under his finger nails in a similar state.

He bent forward to shake Kimi awake, grabbing him by the shoulders and wiggling him vigorously, but to no avail. A loud snore emitted from the Finn's throat but he would not wake. Sebastian tried slapping him across the face but Kimi just shifted in his sleep and licked some of the blood from his lips. In a last attempt Sebastian ran the silver spoon across Kimi's body but there was no reaction - it obviously had no effect on his human form.

Giving up for the moment, Sebastian headed into the bathroom and turned the shower on, removing his blood stained clothing and stepping into the stream of water. He watched the blood run from his hair in the bowl of the shower and swirl around before dropping down the plug hole. The water soon ran cold and he began to shiver so he stepped out into the bathroom and wrapped himself in one of the towels from the rail.

He picked up a glass from behind the sink and filled it with cold water, drinking some as he examined his own reflection. There could only be one reason why he had woken so covered in blood, without a scratch between them. Sebastian had fallen asleep and Kimi had transformed. He just hoped that the blood had been Kimi's own and he'd just healed quickly and fallen back to sleep. Surely he would have awoken if Kimi had left the room.

He left the bathroom still wrapped in his towel. He took the glass of water and threw the remaining contents at Kimi's face. 

Spluttering, Kimi awoke and scrambled up the bed trying to flee from the water.

"What the fuck?" he croaked, rubbing his face with his hands, before opening his eyes properly. "Why did yo... FUCK, WHAT HAPPENED?"

Kimi jumped from the bed, looking at his bloody, naked body before turning his eyes to the sheets. The pristine white bedding was blackening with dried blood.

"Are you OK?" Kimi asked, turning to Sebastian. "What happened?"

The shock of what lay before him hit Kimi and he slid to the floor, grappling at the wall to stop himself falling backwards.

Sebastian knelt before him, offering him what remained of the glass of water to drink. He let the Finn swallow the water and wipe the blood from his lips with the back of his hand before answering. He was sat inches from the Finn, forcing him to look into his eyes as he spoke.

"Do you remember what I said last night?" Sebastian whispered, his voice breaking slightly as he spoke. "About changing into a werewolf..."

He left the final sentence hanging, waiting for Kimi to register that he remembered. The Finn’s eyes flickered from Sebastian’s to the blood on his hands.

"Yes," Kimi replied, his eyes widening in horror as he looked back at Sebastian.

"I think you changed again," Sebastian continued. "I think you must have hurt yourself and healed quickly, like you did after your crash. That’s _surely_ the only explanation for the blood.” 

Sebastian wasn’t sure if he was being honest or if he was just trying to convince himself that this was what had happened.

“You _have_ to believe me Kimi,” he said, pleading as shuffled closer to the Finn. “Don't you think that it's strange that you're trying to befriend people you never before gave a shit about? Pastor for fuck’s sake?" 

All of Sebastian's feelings came flooding out of him.

"Why would you want to hang out with those people, you have no reason to? Don't you remember the pain of transforming? The noises your bones make as they crack to take the wolf’s form? Don't you remember any of it? Do you really think you just get drunk so much and get naked and wake up in the middle of the street?"

Tears were falling from Sebastian's eyes now as he breathed deeply following the end of his questions.

"Please, Kimi," he said quietly. "Please just think."

There was silence for some time. Sebastian dried his eyes and examined Kimi whose brow was furrowed with concentration and worry. He looked down at the blood on his torso, his eyes locking on the tooth necklace that hung on his chest as though it reminded him of something. Eventually he looked back at Sebastian and spoke in a whisper.

"I think I was attacked," he said, his mind casting back to the winter break. "Before Australia. I remember seeing a large dog but I thought I had dreamed it or something. Thought I’d just passed out or something."

"Did it bite you?" Sebastian cut in quickly.

"And I don't really know why I have been trying to befriend the other guys," Kimi continued, ignoring Sebastian's question. "But... I haven't hurt anybody, have I? Maybe I just... turn into a wolf and go for a run or something?"

Sebastian looked at the blood stained sheets and then into Kimi's eyes that looked like they were pleading for his approval.

"As far as I know, you have not hurt anybody," Sebastian said, soothingly.

"I don't want to hurt anybody," Kimi said, fear taking over him. "Help me, Sebastian, please!"

The Finn grabbed Sebastian's shoulders, his eyes widening, as though he was worried he would turn into a wolf there and then. His breathing quickened and for a short moment it looked like he was about to cry.

"I will help you Kimi," Sebastian said, clutching Kimi’s hands with his own. "Go and have a cold shower. Clean yourself and take the time to wake up properly and then we will talk. We will find a way to sort this mess out."

The Finn nodded, unable to talk as his pulled himself up to his feet and walked slowly into the bathroom. Sebastian stayed kneeling on the floor, breathing deeply as he tried to fathom what they were going to do. He had no idea how to stop the transformations. He didn’t know if it was possible to tame a wolf. Could they just tie Kimi up during nights of the full moon? Would that be enough?

As he heard the shower turn on and Kimi step into the bowl, he got to his feet and walked around the bed to change into some clean clothing. He rummaged through Kimi’s luggage, pulling one of his team shirts and a clean pair of jeans out of the case, knowing they'd fit him well enough for now.

Once he was dressed, he bundled the bed clothes into a pile in the corner of the room, wondering whether it would be best just to burn them rather than leaving them for the hotel staff to find.

He slumped down onto the bare mattress and leaned back against the wall, listening to the water splashing in the bathroom as Kimi washed. 

He was just about to close his eyes when he noticed his phone was flashing up a new message on the bedside table.


	12. The Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having noticed his phone flashing, Sebastian checks his messages and immediately knows something is wrong....

Sebastian snatched his phone from the bedside table. The tiny LED light was blinking non-stop, alternatively flashing white and red to signify texts and missed calls. He slid his finger across the screen and entered his pass code.

_25 Missed Calls from Britta_  
_6 New Messages from Britta_

He opened his texts and saw that Britta, his personal assistant, had sent him multiple messages asking where he was and to answer his phone. The last one simply read:

_Call me. It's urgent._

Wondering what could possibly be so important that Britta would have tried to call him so many times, he opened his contacts list and tapped onto her name, putting the phone up to his ear.

She answered as soon as the phone began ringing.

"Seb?" she almost shouted down the phone. "Seb where are you? We need to talk. It's... It's not good."

She sounded out of breath, like she'd be running around in a panic. There was a hint of manic worry in her voice.

"Calm down, Britta," Sebastian replied, hoping to put her off until he had sorted things with Kimi. "Everything will be fine. Take a deep breath."

"No, Seb," Britta replied, ignoring his advice, her voice breaking until Sebastian could tell she was crying. "You need to come down to the lobby now. It's important. I can't tell you over the phone."

Sebastian heard a loud raking sob just before she hung up and he realised that something serious must have happened. He shoved his phone into his pocket, panic starting to grip him. What if something was wrong with his family? Or Britta's family? They were almost family to him now. What if something had happened to one of the team? Or someone from the paddock? They might race and battle against one another but they were all friends deep down.

Thoughts were flying through Sebastian's mind as he shoved his feet into his shoes and moved towards the bathroom door.

"Kimi?" he said, trying to stop his voice from sounding so fearful.

There was a grunt from inside the room that Sebastian took as the Finn acknowledging he'd heard.

"Kimi, I need to go. Britta called and she's upset," he took a deep breath to try and calm his voice. "I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

Another grunt was all the signal Sebastian needed to rush from the room, grabbing Kimi's key card before running with long strides down the corridor to the lift.

The panic really struck him in the elevator. He tried to slow his breathing, taking long breaths in through his nose and exhaling slowly through his mouth. He held onto the rail that wound around the small space inside the lift to steady himself. His stomach lurched as the elevator came to a sudden stop at the ground floor and he stumbled out of the opening doors into the lobby.

Britta was pacing up and down in front of the reception desk. The lobby was full of people, most of which were from the paddock, milling around and looking panicked, confused and upset. There were some members of the police force mingling through the crowd either comforting people or questioning them.

Sebastian rushed over to Britta and placed his arms on her shoulders to stop her from walking. Her eyes were red and puffy and it looked like she'd barely slept.

"Where the hell have you been?" she snapped, before tears spilled from her eyes.

"Tell me what has happened?" Sebastian replied, tightening his grip on her shoulders and forcing the lump in his throat down.

"Come over here," Britta said quietly, sniffing loudly as she pointed towards some secluded chairs in the corner of the lobby.

They each took a seat and Britta grabbed onto Sebastian's hand, holding it firmly between her own while she composed herself. It took her a few moments to stop crying and catch her breath enough to speak, Sebastian observing the lobby whilst she prepared herself.

He recognised most of the people that were looking shocked and upset as his former team members. Whatever had happened was in relation to Red Bull. He hadn't really spoken to many of them recently but they'd been like family to him for sometime and he couldn't even bear the thought of something having happened to one of them.

"Tell me, Britta," he said, turning back to the blonde that sat opposite him, rubbing his eyes with tissue. "Please just tell me."

"It's awful," she replied, choking on another wave of emotion. "I'm so sorry Sebastian. I'm so sorry."

"Tell me, now," Sebastian said, trying to curb his anger. "Please. Just tell me."

"It's Heikki," Britta said, her eyes cast down at her feet as tears dripped onto the floor below her. "Heikki's been murdered."

Sebastian stared, the words not quite making sense to him. He tried to form sentences, to ask what had happened or whether it was some sick joke, but no sound would come from his mouth. 

Eventually Britta continued.

"It looks like he's been attacked. The police think it was a wild animal," she said. "He'd been torn at. There are huge scratch marks all over his body and blood everywhere."

She paused to blow her nose.

"His throat had been torn out."

"No," Sebastian said, finally finding his voice. "No, it can't be true."

"I'm so sorry, Sebastian," Britta repeated, trying but failing to cling onto his hand as he stood and raced out of the lobby back towards the lift.

He frantically hammered at the lift call button until one of the doors opened. Racing inside he threw himself against the far wall and dropped to the floor. Tears streamed from his eyes as the doors closed, the lift not moving as no floor buttons had been pressed.

Sebastian buried his face in his knees, wrapping his arms around the back of his head as he sobbed uncontrollably. The smell of blood sprung back into his nose and he retched, bringing up the contents of his stomach. He lay in the pool of vomit unable to lift himself with the weight of hurt that piled on top of him.

Heikki was his best friend. He had the kindest heart and was loyal to a fault. He was always there when Sebastian needed help or encouragement. He was the one person that Sebastian wanted to run to now for comfort, but he was gone.

And Sebastian knew what had taken him.

It all made sense now. The amount of blood. The fact that it was mainly in Kimi's mouth and fingers. There was only one explanation for what had happened and it sickened Sebastian to know the truth. He tried to force himself to think back during the night - had he been awoken by noises? Had he felt Kimi get out of the bed but just slept on? 

He tore at his hair, gritting his teeth in anger for not being able to remember. Angry, so angry, with himself for falling asleep and letting Kimi transform. Angry because he'd woken up and convinced himself that everything was OK. He pulled so hard at his hair that the effort stretched his energy and he passed out, face falling into the puddle of sick that spread across the floor of the lift.

When he came round again, he found himself tucked into a bed in the hotel. He had been washed and stripped down to his underwear. The two Nico's and Fernando were perched at the bottom end of the bed, anxiously watching him as he blinked himself back to consciousness. 

Hulk was the first to move, sliding around the bed to grab a glass of water and pass it to Sebastian.

"Drink this," he said, passing the glass carefully into Sebastian's shaking hands, "and then eat some of the chocolate. It will help your sugar levels."

Sebastian sipped at the water, not wanting to speak in case he couldn't stop the flood of anger again. Hulk perched on the edge of the bed, nibbling his lower lip as though unsure what to say. Rosberg was pacing up and down at the foot of the bed, his eyes darting between Sebastian's face and the floor, clearly uneasy with the situation.

It was Fernando who eventually spoke.

"You know what this means, Sebastian?" he said, his voice firm but sympathetic. "You understand what we have to do?"

Sebastian didn't reply. He placed the glass on the bedside table and placed his hands in his lap. Hulk reached over and took one of them between his fingers, caressing the back of his hand in a soothing way. Tears began to brim in Sebastian's eyes again and soon he found himself enveloped in Hulk's arms as he cried himself dry.

When he had calmed down enough to speak, he looked between the three men before him and pushed himself away from Hulk.

"Kimi knows," he said, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. "He knows he's a werewolf. He didn't believe me at first, but... I stayed with him last night and he seemed fine. But then I fell asleep..."

He broke down again. Fernando glanced between the concerned faces of Hulk and Rosberg, Sebastian's last sentence left hanging silently in the room until his sobbing subsided enough to continue.

"I fell asleep and when I woke up there was blood everywhere. Kimi was covered in it. I assumed he'd just hurt himself and healed but I know better now. It must have been him."

Hulk wrapped his arms around Sebastian again, resting his head against his shoulder, but Sebastian pushed him away and climbed out of the bed. 

Now that he was more alert, he realised he was in his own hotel room. He pulled jeans and a t-shirt from his case and dressed himself before splashing his face with cold water in the bathroom sink.

"I need to see Kimi," he said, his heart beginning to pound in chest at the realisation of what he needed to do. "We need to sort out how to stop him."

He flung his hotel door open and raced down the corridor to the room that he had left Kimi in. The keycard to Kimi's room was in his hand and he swiped down and tore the door open before he could stop himself.

Inside he found Kimi wrapped in a towel sat on the floor leaning against the bed. His eyes were wide and blank, staring into nothing. He didn't blink as Sebastian entered the room and walked towards him. He sat down beside him, his head racing with how he was supposed to bring up what had happened, but the Finn spoke before he found the words.

"I heard the news," he said, staring blankly at the wall opposite him. "It was me, wasn't it? It had to be me."

He paused but Sebastian didn't move. He couldn't even look at the man now sat beside him. Once his friend and colleague, now the murderer of his closest team mate. 

"You can't let me be like this anymore Sebastian," Kimi continued, his voice barely audible and shaking. "I have to be stopped. You have to kill me. I want you kill me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only one chapter left after this! i hope you're enjoying it so far. :)  
> thanks to those who have left comments and kudos.


	13. The Solution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kimi wants Sebastian to kill him and stop him from hurting any more people, but will her German help him or can they come to a solution together?

Sebastian stared back at Kimi, unable to comprehend what the Finn was asking of him.

"Please Sebastian," he begged, his eyes overflowing with tears. "Please, I can't live with what I've done."

The tears flowed freely down his face, dropping into his lap. Racking sobs emitted from him like short barks that jolted through Sebastian, too true a reminder of the reality of what had happened to Sebastian.

"I killed Heikki," Kimi growled between sobs. "I killed your friend. Don't you want revenge? Don't you hate me? Kill me. Do it now."

Something inside Sebastian snapped.

"Don't you dare bring Heikki into this," he shot back at the Finn. "Don't you dare."

Guilt immediately filled his mind as Kimi shied away from him, the tears still flowing but the sobs silenced by shock.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he tried to soothe Kimi and reached out for his hand, but the Finn flinched away. "I'm sorry. My mind is racing. I don't know what to do."

Sebastian closed his eyes as he lay his head back against the bed they were leaning against, forcing himself to stop the tears and focus on what had to be done.

"We can find a solution," he said quietly. "There has to be a solution."

The room filled with silence for a few moments before Kimi took a deep breath.

"There _is_ a solution," he whispered, so that Sebastian could barely hear him. "The solution is to kill me. If you won't do it, I'll do it myself."

Sebastian's eyes remained closed. He didn't trust himself to speak. He couldn't move for fear of doing something stupid. He had already lost one friend that day, he couldn't - no, wouldn't - lose another.

Kimi watched Sebastian in silence for a few moments, wondering whether he had lost his friend for good. He thought about what his own answer would be if Sebastian had asked him to kill him and he knew deep down that he couldn't do it.

"How do you kill a werewolf?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Sebastian shrugged, eyes tight shut so they wouldn't give away the lie.

"You must know," Kimi said, his voice surprisingly calm now that he had come to terms with his fate. "You knew that I was a werewolf. You must have researched. You knew about the spoon. Is it silver? Is that what you need to kill a werewolf?"

The German opened his eyes, letting out a long shaking breath as he tried to steady his nerves enough to look at Kimi.

"A silver knife or bullet to the heart will kill you," he said, staring hard at the wall opposite him and trying to keep his voice from wavering. "Then the body needs to be burnt."

Kimi sat in silence for a moment taking in the words Sebastian had said, a plan forming in his mind. He knew had to end this for the safety of the people he cared about. It was the only way.

He got to his feet suddenly and pulled Sebastian up with him.

"Get out," he said, his voice emotionless. "Get out and leave me alone. I will see you at the race."

"What are you going to do?" Sebastian replied, panic rising within him. "Kimi, please. There must be another way."

"It's OK Sebastian," he said, pushing the German lightly towards to the door. "Please, I need to think. I will speak with you before the race."

Kimi opened the hotel door and waited for his team mate to step outside, closing it behind him and leaving Sebastian stood outside wondering what had happened.

\----

Kimi avoided Sebastian for the next couple of days, always deep in conversation with his team or hiding in his room and refusing to answer the door when the German knocked. He had formed a plan and put steps in motion, keeping all the details to himself. He had called his parents and his older brother, not giving away any details but letting them know that he loved them, and left a note inside his suitcase with details that would explain what he wished done with his belongings.

It was the morning of the race, in the garages just before the cars would be wheeled to the grid, when Sebastian finally found him alone and willing to talk.

"Sebastian we need to talk," Kimi said, entering his side of the garage and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Just quickly before the race."

He held his helmet in his free hand, hanging it limply by his side ready for the race. His face looked solemn which was nothing out of the ordinary for Kimi, he rarely showed his emotions, but Sebastian could tell there was something different in his eyes when they met with his own.

"You have been such a great friend, Sebastian. There through the good times and the bad," he said, his eyes darting around to members of Sebastian's team who were hurriedly preparing for the race. "I don't think I'd have had half as much fun without you. I just wanted you to know that."

Sebastian glanced at his feet, embarrassment and sadness overwhelming him.

"You're a good friend too, Kimi," he said. "I don't blame you for what happened. I want to help you. I _need_ to help you."

He looked at Kimi, his eyes pleading as the Finn smiled back at him.

"I chained myself to the bed the last two nights," Kimi said quietly so that the engineers wouldn't hear. "The bed frame and the sheets are wrecked. The room is a mess. But it gave me time to think up a plan. I know what to do Sebastian. And I don't need your help. I just need you to take care. Take care of yourself and everybody else. Promise me this."

Sebastian stared at the Finn, not understanding what he meant by the words or who he was referring to when he said 'everybody else'.

"I promise," Sebastian replied, "and I promise to take care of you, too."

Kimi nodded at Sebastian and smiled a small turn of his lips that brought the sadness out in his eyes. That was what Sebastian had seen earlier. He was about to ask if everything was OK when the Finn turned around and pulled his helmet over his head as he walked into his garage, dismissing Sebastian without another glance.

\-----

Sebastian lined his car up on the grid having followed Kimi around during the formation lap. They had qualified well, Kimi in third and Sebastian in fourth, following Lewis and Nico in the Mercedes cars. Sebastian knew that the team were banking on Kimi for more points and hoping that he would win the Championship, but deep down he wanted to prove that he could be just as good.

His mind was racing between the words Kimi has said less than half an hour before and the information that his team was reading him through the earpiece. He was trying to drown it all out and concentrate on the lights above them, hoping for a perfect start and a good race but as each red light flicked on, his brain spoke in Kimi's accent, ' _Take care_ '.

And then suddenly the lights were out and engines roared around him and he found himself chasing Kimi out of the start grid, defending his position from Felipe Massa who was right behind him.

That was all it took for his mind to switch into race mode. He saw Lewis flying ahead towards the first corner, Nico swinging in front of Kimi to block him from over taking. He saw Kimi attempting to speed ahead of him but Sebastian was keeping up, even gaining on him.

The first corner seemed so far away but Sebastian knew that if he got a good line on the outside he could slip past Kimi on the second corner so he pushed himself harder than normal, lining his car up alongside his team mate.

Ahead of him he saw Lewis take the corner perfectly, Nico locking up slightly before correcting himself and following. Kimi was still racing by his side, both of them leaving braking late.

As he reached level with the apex of turn one Sebastian finally braked, steering into the corner, but before he had chance to turn fully something smashed hard into the left side of his car, tearing the front left wheel and wing from his car and causing him to spin into the wall. 

Sebastian sat dazed in his car for a moment, staring at the steering wheel that was still gripped in his hands. His car was smoking and marshalls were shouting and waving yellow flags. He watched the last few back markers drive slowly around the turn and pulled himself out of the car, his race ruined.

As he climbed out of the car he saw another wreckage in the wall straight opposite the start/finish straight. 

It was red. Ferrari red. And it was completely crumpled. 

His earpiece crackled into life.

"Sebastian, can you hear us? Are you OK? Kimi just drove straight on and hit you. Get back to the pits."

He ignored the message, standing in the gravel around the outside edge of the corner and staring at wreckage, reminding himself that last time Kimi had crashed, he'd walked away from death.

But this time his mind added ' _Take care_ ' and before he knew it he was running towards the wreckage, outrunning marshalls with fire hydrants and pushing through the safety officers that tried to keep him from the car.

Kimi hadn't climbed out of the car yet and smoke was already billowing from inside the cockpit. It didn't look like the engine was on fire but Sebastian knew that something strange was happening here. He knew that this was why Kimi had told him to take care. 

He reached Kimi's car and immediately dived for the cockpit, wafting smoke out of the way and seeing flames in the footwell, a packet of matches lying beside them on the floor.

"Come on Kimi, you have to get out," he shouted, slapping the top of the Finn's helmet and pulling his left hand from the steering wheel to throw over his shoulder and pull him out. "You can't do this, Kimi."

The fire was beginning to spread, the packet of matches causing a puff of fire which caught on the edges of the cockpit. He reached inside to unbuckle the seat belt around Kimi's torso and that was when he glimpsed the silver. The handle of a kebab fork stuck out from the red Ferrari overalls, plunged through the pocket that covered his heart and straight into Kimi’s chest.

"No," Sebastian whispered, his hands frantically trying to unbuckle the belt in the hope of saving his friend somehow, but his efforts were hampered by his eyes filling with tears and blurring his vision. "No. No, no no no."

He felt arms grab at him from behind. Saw orange overalls wrap around his torso and pull him backwards. He clung to the edge of the cockpit of Kimi's car, not wanting to leave him. Not daring himself to look away.

Cracking inside the car sounded to warn that the flames were close to the petrol tank and the marshalls pulled Sebastian so hard that he lost his grip on the car. His fingers slipped free of the cockpit and one of the marshalls carried him at a sprint away from the vehicle.

The marshall carried him across the road, slung over his shoulder. Sebastian's arms reached out towards Kimi's car, willing the man to take him back to help. The marshalls were spraying the fire with their hydrants, one still trying to unbuckle Kimi to rescue him from the flames, but the fire seemed to increase inside and suddenly the marshalls were running away from the car, yelling for people to get down.

The explosion was massive, with chunks of flaming car flying in all directions, narrowly missing spectators and fire mashalls that were diving to the floor and covering their heads. A blazing inferno remained where the car had been and Sebastian's hand dropped against the marshall's back as his mouth gaped open at the ferocity of the fire.

Red flags were waving now as smoke billowed across the track at the first corner, debris scattered across the track. To Sebastian it seemed like the whole world had ground to a silent halt, but in reality there were screams and cries and the wailing of fire engines emerging from the pit lane.

Spectators around the edge of the fencing were rushing away from the scene of the fire now that the excitement had passed and danger was clear.

The marshall placed Sebastian on the floor and ran to join the rest of his team who were still trying to put out the fire but it was no use. Kimi had died long before the fire took hold and there was nothing left to save of the car. The easiest thing to do was let it burn out. 

Sebastian watched as the flames consumed what remained of the car and his team mates body, the heat reaching him even across the corner where he had been left by the marshall. The tears that streamed down his face evaporated inside his helmet and condensed against his visor but he didn't lift it.

He sat and watched until the flames gradually grew smaller. His team had called him through the radio to return to the garage but he hadn't heard. They had sent engineers and even Britta to try to bring him back but he would not move. He couldn't take his eyes from the flames. 

Only when the fire was fully out and the marshalls had gone did he get to his feet and walk back across the track to where the debris lay on the floor. All that was left of Kimi's car was bits of burned rubber and flakes of ash. Nothing remained to show that his team mate - a strong Finnish man, who had been bitten by a werewolf - had been there. Nothing except a charred tooth that had once been on a thong of leather around Kimi's neck.

Sebastian reached into the ash and picked up the tooth, holding it tightly in a fist - the last remaining part of his friend. A terrible reminder, but also a fitting tribute.

He stood at the site of the blaze until the tears had dried and the sun had gone down. Britta stood with him, her arms wrapped around him as she realised that Sebastian had lost both of his best friends that weekend. Finally he gave in to her requests to head to the hotel and he allowed her to guide him back to the garage and dress him in jeans and a t-shirt.

He walked into the hotel in a daze, his eyes red and sore from the heat and the tears. Fernando, Hulk and Rosberg sat in the lobby waiting for him to return, concern written on their faces, knowing that this was for the best but worried about their friend who had to watch it all evolve.

Hulk stood first, wrapping Sebastian in his arms and finally crying the tears he had been holding in.

"I'm here, Sebastian," he said, tears dripping from his cheeks into the German's hair. "We're all here for you."

Sebastian nodded, the words going over his head but appreciating the sentiment nonetheless. He pulled himself from Hulk's grip and glanced at the three men that stood around him. The three friends he had left after this horrifying weekend.

"He did it," he whispered, his voice hoarse from the smoke he had inhaled. He looked down at the charred tooth in his hands. "He did it. He killed himself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly thank you to [girlinthevortex](archiveofourown.org/users/girlinthevortex) for beta reading the entire of this, editing it and suggesting bits that needed added.
> 
> Secondly thank you to everyone that has read this and commented. It's the first 'long' fic I've written and ever finished, so i'm quite proud of it. I hope you all enjoyed it.
> 
> Lastly, there is a sequel planned. I'm not sure when it will be posted, but it's mostly planned and I'm sure it will come at some point.
> 
> Thanks again for reading.


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